tndamental  purpose  of  i 
seroation  of  the  human  resources  of  the  nation. 

AMERICAN     LABOR     LEGISLATION 


No.  2 
PUBLICATION  25 


i  mm  HI 
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mmtn 

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A  Problem  of 


IRREGULARITY  OF  EMPLOYMENT 

PUBLIC   RESPONSIBILITY 

CONSTRUCTIVE  PROPOSALS 

PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES 

UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


MAY,  1914 


PROCEEDINGS  FIRST  NATIONAL  CONFERENCE  C 
UNEMPLOYMENT,  NEW  YORK  :        ,          ; 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION 
131  CAST  23d  ST.,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  February  20, 1911,  at  the  post  office 
at  New  York,  N.  Y.,  under  the  Act  of  July  16, 1894 

PRICE    ONE    DOLLAR 


AMERICAN  LABOR  LEGISLATION   REVIEW 
Vol.  IV,  No.  2 


Princeton  University  Press 
Princeton,  N.  J. 


AMERICAN  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

REVIEW 

Vol.  IV  MAY,  1914  No.  2 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE:     ORGANIZATION  TO  COMBAT  UNEM- 
PLOYMENT   JOHN  B.  ANDREWS  209 

I.  IRREGULARITY  OF  EMPLOYMENT 

Introductory  Address JOHN  P.  MITCHEL  221 

Reports  of  Official  Delegates  on  the   State  of 
Employment 223 

II.  PUBLIC  RESPONSIBILITY 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION    257 

III.  THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  UNEMPLOYMENT 

The  English  Method  of  Dealing  with  the  Unem- 
ployed  HENRY  R.  SEAGER  281 

The  Struggle  against  Unemployment C.  R.  HENDERSON    294 

The  German  System  of  Labor  Exchanges F.  C.   HOWE  300 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION 305 

•  IV.  CONSTRUCTIVE  PROPOSALS 

Introductory  Address    311 

Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice     W.  M.  LEISERSON    314 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION    332 

V.  RESOLUTIONS  353 

VI.  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES SOLON   DE   LEON    359 

VII.  PRESENT  STATUS  OP  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 375 

VIII.  NEW  LEGISLATION  ON  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES 389 

IX.  SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  UNEMPLOYMENT 401 


The  American  Labor  Legislation  Review  is  published  quarterly  by  the  American 
Association  for  Labor  Legislation,  131  East  23d  St.,  New  York,  *N\  Y.  The  price  is 
one  dollar  per  single  copy,  or  three  dollars  per  year  in  advance.  An  annual  subscription 
includes  individual  membership  in  the  Association. 


517479 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 
ORGANIZATION  TO  COMBAT  UNEMPLOYMENT 


"Its  sessions  marked  a  new  attitude  in  America  toward  the 
unemployment  problem",  said  a  well  known  editor  in  reporting 
our  First  National  Conference  on  Unemployment.  "The  deep 
interest  with  which  the  proceedings  were  followed,  and  the  sense 
of  responsibility  manifest  in  the  discussions  and  the  resolutions, 
all  bear  evidence  that  an  acute  situation  exists  and  that  it  is 
national  in  scope." 

Whether  or  not  there  has  been  an  unusual  amount  of  unem- 
ployment during  the  past  winter,  this  much  is  certain :  Thousands 
of  people  now  realize  as  they  never  realized  before  that  there 
is  in  this  country  during  every  year,  at  every  season  of  the  year, 
a  tremendous  amount  of  wasteful,  demoralizing  irregularity  of 
employment.  It  was  the  condition  behind  and  responsible  for  this 
growing  realization  that  brought  together  in  New  York  city 
at  the  end  of  February  representatives  from  fifty-nine  cities  and 
twenty-five  states,  having  vital  concern  in  the  out-of-work 
problem. 

In  the  course  of  the  two  days'  discussion,  despite  the  great 
diversity  of  view-points  represented,  five  main  points  of  agree- 
ment became  clearly  defined.  These  were :  ( i )  the  necessity  for 
accurate  labor  market  statistics;  (2)  the  necessity  for  a  wide- 
spread system  of  efficient  labor  exchanges;  (3)  the  necessity  for 
regularizing  business;  (4)  the  necessity  for  industrial  training 
and  vocational  guidance;  and  (5)  the  necessity  for  unemploy- 
ment insurance.  At  the  close  of  the  conference,  following  the 
adoption  of  resolutions  expressing  the  conclusions  of  the  dele- 
gates, active  steps  were  taken  to  put  the  resolutions  into  effect. 
In  New  York  state,  on  March  6,  Governor  Glynn  sent  to  the 
legislature  a  special  message  urging  the  immediate  establishment 
of  a  state  system  of  employment  bureaus.  The  administration's 
bill  was  introduced  on  March  n,  and  passed  on  the  closing  even- 
ing of  the  session,  March  28,  after  a  vigorous  campaign.  On 
March  21  Mayor  Mitchel  of  New  York  city  sent  a  special  mes- 


2io  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

sage  to  the  board  of  aldermen  urging  the  creation  of  a  municipal 
employment  bureau,  and  the  ordinance  was  adopted  on  April  28. 

Meanwhile  work  was  continued  on  proposals  to  carry  out  sec- 
tions of  the  resolutions  recommending  that  the  American 
Association  for  Labor  Legislation,  in  affiliation  with  the  Ameri- 
can Section  of  the  International  Association  on  Unemployment, 
initiate  and  promote  public  action  for  the  establishment  in  the 
federal  Department  of  Labor  of  a  bureau  with  power  to  establish 
employment  exchanges  throughout  the  country  to  supplement  the 
work  being  done  by  state  and  municipal  bureaus,  to  act  as  a  clear- 
ing house  of  information  and  promote  the  distribution  of  labor 
throughout  the  country.  A  bill  for  this  purpose  has  been  intro- 
duced at  Washington,  and  is  printed,  following  the  New  York 
city  and  New  York  state  measures  just  mentioned,  on  page  397. 

It  is  recognized  that  after  these  first  practical  steps  have 
been  taken  careful  investigation  must  be  made  into  conditions 
of  employment,  as  outlined  in  the  remaining  resolutions.  A 
special  fund  for  this  purpose  is  being  raised  and  part  of  the  pre- 
liminary investigation  is  accomplished. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  REVIEW 
will  be  found  helpful  to  all  who  may  wish  to  cooperate  with  these 
Associations  in  the  purpose  as  expressed  in  the  by-laws  adopted 
in  1912:  To  coordinate  the  efforts  made  in  America  to  combat 
unemployment  and  its  consequences,  to  organize  studies,  to  give 
information  to  the  public,  and  to  take  the  initiative  in  shaping 
improved  legislation  and  administration. 

A  PROBLEM  OF  INDUSTRY 

That  the  problem  of  unemployment  is  a  serious  one  can  no 
longer  be  doubted.  "We  cannot  find  work !"  is  the  cry  of  thou- 
sands of  able-bodied  men,  who,  especially  in  mid-winter,  besiege 
the  relief  societies  in  our  great  cities.  "We  cannot  find  enough 
help!"  is  the  complaint  of  manufacturers  and  farmers  at  some 
seasons  or  in  some  years. 

Even  in  prosperous  times,  we  have  had  mills  closing  down  in 
Pittsburgh  and  advertising  that  workers  could  not  be  found.  At 
the  same  time  in  other  parts  of  this  country,  men  were  tramping 
from  shop  to  shop  that  had  no  use  for  them,  generally  ignorant 


Introductory  Note  211 

of  the  needs  of  Pittsburgh  and  unable,  in  any  event,  to  pay  the 
railroad  fare  that  would  take  them  to  jobs  that  wanted  them — 
the  jobs  they  sought  in  vain. 

The  labor  market  is  unorganized,  resulting  in  confusion,  waste 
and  loss  to  employers  and  employees.  It  means  suffering  to  in- 
dividual workers  and  their  families,  a  lowering  of  the  standard 
of  living,  impaired  vitality  and  efficiency,  and  a  tendency  for 
the  unemployed  to  become  unemployable,  dependent,  degraded. 
In  fact,  the  demoralizing  effect  of  unemployment  upon  the  indivi- 
dual is  matched  only  by  its  wastefulness  to  society. 

"This  question  of  unemployment  is  one  of  the  incidents  of  the 
great  commercial  development  of  our  age,"  said  Mr.  Straus  as 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  "It  is  the  reverse  side  of  the 
shield  of  prosperity,  if  you  please.  What  the  remedy  should  be 
is  the  great  problem  of  our  civilization." 

A  FEW  FIGURES 

After  investigation  in  New  York  city  during  the  winter  of 
1913-1914,  the  superintendent  of  the  employment  bureau  of  an 
old  and  conservative  organization — the  Association  for  Improv- 
ing the  Condition  of  the  Poor — estimated  on  February  2,  1914, 
that  "on  any  given  day  this  winter  there  are  at  least  325,000 
men  unemployed  in  this  city."  This  estimate  has  been  questioned, 
but  not  authoritatively  disproven.  At  the  same  time  relief 
agencies  in  many  other  cities  were  swamped.  Municipal  lodging 
houses  were  turning  away  many  genuine  seekers  after  work' — 
to  sleep  on  bare  boards  at  the  docks,  in  warehouses,  even  in 
morgues. 

But  while  relief  agencies  struggle  with  their  problems  of 
emergency  relief,  we  do  not  forget  that  serious  irregularity  of 
employment  is  not  temporary  in  America.  It  is  continually  one 
of  our  most  wasteful  industrial  evils. 

The  United  States  Census  for  1900  showed  that 
6,468,964  working  people,  or  nearly  25  per  cent  of  all  engaged 
in  gainful  occupations,  had  been  unemployed  some 
time  during  the  year.     Of  these 

3*1 77>753  lost  from  one  to  three  months  each,  representing 
on  the  basis  of  $10  a  week  a  loss  in  wages  of  approxi- 
mately $200,000,000 ; 


212  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

2,554,925  lost  from  four  to  six  months'  work  each,  representing 
a  wage  loss  of  approximately  $500,000,000;  and 

736,286  lost  from  seven  to  twelve  months'  work  each,  repre- 
senting a  wage  loss  of  approximately  $300,000,000. 

Thus  approximately  $1,000,000,000  was  lost  in  wages  in  the 
year. 

On  this  subject  the  Census  statistics  are  very  unsatisfactory, 
but  they  are  the  figures  gathered  and  published  at  great  expense 
by  the  United  States  Government.  Similar  data  were  collected 
by  the  government  in  1910,  but  they  are  still  unpublished. 

In  1901  the  federal  Bureau  of  Labor  investigated  24,402 
working  class  families  in  33  states,  and  found  that  12,154  heads 
of  families  had  been  unemployed  for  an  average  period  of  9.43 
weeks  during  the  year.  The  New  York  State  Department  of 
Labor  collected  reports  each  month  during  the  ten  years  1901- 
1911  from  organized  workmen  averaging  in  number  99,069  each 
month,  and  found  that  the  average  number  unemployed  each 
month  was  14,146,  or  18.1  per  cent. 

The  federal  Census  of  Manufactures,  for  1905,  gives  the 
"average  number  of  wage-earners  each  month,  and  the  greatest 
and  least  number  employed  at  any  one  time."  At  one  time 
7,017,138  were  employed,  while  at  another  time  there  were  only 
4,599,091,  leaving  a  difference  of  2,418,047.  That  is  to  say, 
nearly  two  and  a  half  million  workers  were  either  unemployed 
or  compelled  to  seek  a  new  employer  during  the  year.  These 
figures  were  drawn  from  the  manufacturers'  own  records. 

REMEDIES  SUGGESTED 

"What  should  be  done  when  thousands  of  skilled  workers  in  a 
trade  are  furnished  employment  during  only  twenty-eight  weeks 
out  of  fifty-two?" — as  was  the  case  in  a  New  York  trade  recently 
investigated.  "What  shall  we  say  of  a  factory  that  hires  and 
discharges  a  thousand  men  in  one  year  in  order  to  keep  up  a 
steady  force  of  three  hundred?"  These  are  pertinent  questions 
now, being  asked  by  discerning  men. 

In  the  interest  of  the  general  welfare,  we  have  penalized 
workers  for  working  over-time.  The  question  has  been  raised : 
"Shall  we  penalize  employers  for  working  under-time?" 


Introductory  Note  213 

The  problem  is  so  vast,  the  rights  of  individuals  affected  so 
fundamental,  that  the  proper  organization  of  the  labor  market  is 
not  to  be  lightly  undertaken.  But  American  society  cannot  afford 
indefinitely  to  postpone  serious  consideration  of  this  problem. 
This  complex  question  of  the  jobless  man  and  the  manless  job 
is  already  one  of  the  most  important  and  exasperating  social 
questions.  Irregularity  of  employment  is  a  problem  of  industry ; 
it  is,  in  fact,  as  Mr.  Louis  Brandeis  has  said,  "the  worst  and 
most  extended  of  industrial  evils." 

The  first  step  in  the  organization  of  the  labor  market  is  largely 
the  responsibility  of  the  employers  of  labor,  who,  if  not  directly 
penalized  as  already  suggested,  should  perhaps  be  offered  some 
additional  inducement  properly  to  regularize  business. 

Fortunately,  a  few  progressive  employers  have  already  recog- 
nized this  responsibility  and  in  their  own  factories  have  so  regu- 
larized their  business  throughout  the  twelve  months  of  the  year  as 
to  do  away  with  former  "seasonal  fluctuations"  in  their  own  labor 
force.  One  of  several  plants  in  a  highly  seasonal  industry,  which 
used  to  run  feverishly  and  consequently  inefficiently  for  a  few 
months  each  year,  with  long  slack  periods  between,  has  for  the 
past  six  years  so  regularized  its  business  that  work  on  a  season's 
new  goods  is  begun  twenty-four  months  in  advance,  thus  insuring 
continuous  and  efficient  work  the  year  around.  Nevertheless,  of 
the  accomplishment  possible  in  this  direction  we  have  only  a  be- 
ginning. And  complementary  to  this  first  step  is,  of  course,  the 
problem  of  industrial  training  which  is  now  receiving  wide 
attention  and  is  the  frequent  subject  of  legislation. 

The  second  step  toward  the  organization  of  the  labor  market  is 
the  strict  supervision  of  private  offices  and  the  establishment 
of  free  employment  bureaus  all  knit  together  into  an  efficient 
system  of  labor  exchanges.  Of  this  step,  too,  we  have  had  merely 
the  halting  beginnings.  To  be  sure,  nineteen  states  and  fifteen 
municipalities  have  already  provided  for  public  employment 
bureaus.  But  only  a  few  of  these  have  yet  been  established  on  a 
basis  that  can  be  regarded  as  really  efficient. 

For  the  few  public  employment  bureaus  within  any  one  state 
the  struggle  for  effective  management  has  been  crippled,  partly 
at  least  by  insufficient  appropriations.  Cooperation  between  the 
bureaus  of  different  states  is  difficult.  Many  of  their  prob- 


214  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

lems  are  national  in  character.  It  is  apparent  that  carefully 
worked  out  legislation,  on  the  basis  of  the  best  experience  in  this 
and  older  countries,  will  be  required  to  make  a  satisfactory  begin- 
ning in  this  important  field. 

There  are  jobs  without  men  and  men  without  jobs.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  second  step  to  bring  together  the  jobless  men  and 
the  manless  jobs. 

The  third  step  in  dealing  with  this  problem  must  depend  in  i 
large  degree  upon  the  ultimate  success  of  the  first  and  second. 
When  employers  have  done  their  utmost  to  smooth  out  the  curve 
of  employment,  when  workers  have  been  trained  to  the  demands 
of  industry,  and  when  efficient  labor  exchanges  record  and  an- 
nounce and  direct  throughout  the  nation  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the 
tide  of  employable  labor,  there  will  still  remain  for  the  statesmen 
of  our  land  the  task  of  developing  a  just  and  economical  system  of 
insurance  for  those  who,  though  able  and  willing  to  work,  are  yet 
unable  to  find  it. 

Meanwhile  encouragement  is  to  be  given  to  the  study  of  com- 
plex forces  involved  in  the  migrations  of  peoples,  in  the  diffi- 
culties of  transportation  over  wide  areas,  in  the  demands  for 
industrial  training,  in  the  selection  of  occupations,  into  the  extent 
of  seasonal  industries,  and  into  the  perplexing  problem  of  casual 
labor. 

AMERICAN  AND  EUROPEAN  ORGANIZATION 

Gigantic  and  complicated  as  the  problem  is,  however,  one  of  the 
encouraging  signs  of  the  times  is  that  the  nation-wide,  and 
even  international,  movement  against  unemployment  is  already 
launched.  At  the  fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  Labor  Legislation  in  1911  one  half-day  was  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  "The  Unemployment  Problem  in  America." 
At  the  close  of  the  session  the  president  was  authorized  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  represent  the  organization  in  its  relations  with  the 
International  Association  on  Unemployment  which  had  been  or- 
ganized in  Paris  in  iQio.1  President  Henry  R.  Seager  then 

1  Delegates  from  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation  at  the 
Paris  conference  in  1910  were :  Henry  W.  Farnam,  Charles  P.  Neill,  Edward 
T.  Devine,  Lee  K.  Frankel,  John  B.  Andrews,  Irene  Osgood  Andrews, 
William  Leiserson,  and  Helen  L.  Stunner. 


Introductory  Note  215 

appointed  the  following  committee:  Charles  R.  Henderson 
(Chairman),  Jane  Addams,  William  Hard,  William  Leiserson, 
and  John  B.  Andrews  (Secretary). 

Immediate  contact  between  this  committee  and  the  International 
Association  on  Unemployment  was  established  through  a  request 
for  information  which  led  the  committee  to  send  an  inquiry  to  the 
mayors  of  the  principal  cities  and  to  the  presidents  of  many  of  the 
important  railways  in  the  United  States  to  ascertain  "the  nature 
and  the  extent  of  any  efforts  made  by  them  so  to  adjust  their 
contracts  and  their  works  of  repair  or  of  construction  as  to 
avoid,  so  far  as  possible,  the  general  discharge  of  employees  in 
slack  seasons  and  in  times  of  industrial  depression."  The  infor- 
mation thus  secured  was  published  by  the  international  organi- 
zation with  the  proceedings  of  its  international  conference  at 
Zurich  in  September,  1912.  At  that  conference  the  committee 
was  represented  by  Mr.  Henderson,  Mr.  Lee  K.  Frankel,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Andrews,  and  Mr.  Charles  H.  Verrill. 

Growing  out  of  that  "social  week"  at  Zurich  where  interna- 
tional conferences  were  held  by  the  three  great  international 
associations  on  unemployment,  social  insurance,  and  labor  legis- 
lation, a  plan  for  close  cooperation  to  avoid  wasteful  and  an- 
noying duplication  of  effort  in  all  nations  was  developed.  The 
executive  committee  of  the  International  Association  on  Unem- 
ployment submitted  to  the  American  committee  by-laws  which, 
when  adopted  in  December,  1912,  formed  the  American  Section 
of  the  International  Association  on  Unemployment  in  close  affilia- 
tion with  the  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation.  The 
purpose,  as  expressed  in  the  by-laws  of  the  Association  on 
Unemployment,  is 

(a)  To  assist  the  International  Association  in  the  accomplishment  of  its 
task  (Section  i,  ss.  3  and  4,  of  the  Statutes  of  the  International 
Association)  : 

The  aim  of  the  Association  is  to  coordinate  all  the  efforts  made 
in  different  countries  to  combat  unemployment. 

Among  the  methods  the  Association  proposes  to  adopt  in  order  to 
realize  its  object  the  following  may  be  specially  noticed; 

(a)  The  organization  of  a  permanent  international  office  to 
centralize,  classify  and  hold  at  the  disposition  of  those  interested, 
the  documents  relating  to  the  various  aspects  of  the  struggle  against 
unemployment  in  different  countries. 


216  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

(b)  The  organization  of  periodical  international  meetings,  either 
public   or  private. 

(c)  The  organization  of  special  studies  on  certain  aspects  of  the 
problem  of  unemployment  and  the  answering  of  inquiries  on  these 
matters. 

(d)  The  publication  of  essays  and  a  journal  on  unemployment. 

(e)  Negotiations  with  private  institutions,  or  the  public  authori- 
ties of  each   country,   with  the  object  of   advancing   legislation  on 
unemployment,    and    obtaining    comparable    statistics    or    informa- 
tion   and    possibly    agreements    or   treaties    concerning   the   question 
of  unemployment. 

(b)  To  coordinate  the  efforts  made  in  America  to  combat  unemployment 
and  its  consequences,  to  organize  studies,  to  give  information  to  the 
public,  and  to  take  the  initiative  in  shaping  improved  legislation  and 
administration,  and  practical  action  in  times  of  urgent  need. 

CHICAGO  COMMISSION 

It  was  through  the  activity  of  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
that  Mr.  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor  of  Chicago,  appointed 
the  Chicago  Unemployment  Commission,  with  Mr.  Charles  R. 
Crane,  Chairman,  and  Prof.  Charles  R.  Henderson,  Secretary. 
The  Chicago  commission  divided  its  members  into  seven  com- 
mittees each  charged  with  a  study  of  some  important  aspect  of 
the  question: 

(<i)  The  nature  and  extent  of  unemployment,  especially  in  Chicago; 
(2)  Methods  of  securing  employment,  including  an  inquiry  into  the  workings 
of  the  state  free  employment  bureaus,  the  private  bureaus,  and  the  methods 
of  employers;  (3)  Extent  and  effects  of  migration  between  Europe  and 
America  in  relation  to  unemployment;  (4)  The  adjustment,  or  "dovetailing," 
of  employment;  (5)  The  methods  of  relief  to  the  destitute  unemployed; 
(6)  The  laws  relating  to  vagrancy  and  mendicancy,  and  methods  of  better- 
ment required;  (7)  The  relation  of  vocational  training  and  guidance  to 
unemployment. 

After  a  careful  study  by  the  second  committee,  the  commission 
passed  the  following  resolution : 

i.  We  recommend  the  establishment  of  a  labor  exchange  so  organized  as 
to  assure:  (a)  adequate  funds  to  make  it  efficient  in  the  highest  possible 
degree;  (b)  a  mode  of  appointment  of  the  salaried  directors  which  will 
protect  it  against  becoming  the  spoils  of  political  factions  and  parties;  and 
(c)  a  board  or  council  of  responsible  citizens,  representing  employers, 
emplbyees  and  the  general  public,  to  direct  the  general  policy  and  watch 
over  the  efficiency  of  the  administration,  this  board  or  council  having  the 


Introductory  Note  217 

power  to  employ  and  discharge  all  employees  subject  to  proper  regulations 
of  the  civil  service  commission. 

2.  We  recommend  that  the  governor  and  legislature  be  requested  at  the 
next  session  of  the  legislature  to  amend  the  present  law  relating  to  free  state 
employment  bureaus  so  as  to  secure  a  central  state  labor  exchange,  based  on 
the  principles  just  stated. 

AMERICAN  SECTION 

Meanwhile  the  secretary  of  the  American  Section  drafted  an 
immediate  program  of  action,  prepared  (in  cooperation  with  the 
Library  of  Congress  and  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics)  an  American  bibliography  on  unemployment  to  be 
included  in  the  international  bibliography  on  this  subject  to  be 
published  in  English,  French  and  German,  under  the  direction  of 
the  international  organization  by  the  municipal  library  of  Buda- 
pest, Hungary,  analyzed  existing  legislation  in  the  United  States, 
prepared  statistics  of  public  employment  bureaus,  distributed 
information,  collected  and  forwarded  the  dues  of  American  mem- 
bers, and  secured  through  special  contributions  a  fund  to  inaugu- 
rate a  preliminary  survey. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  December,  1913,  the  following  execu- 
tive committee  was  elected.  Charles  R.  Crane,  Henry  S.  Den- 
nison,  Charles  P.  Neill,  John  Mitchell,  Charles  R.  Henderson, 
and,  ex  officio,  Adolph  Lewisohn  (Treasurer),  and  John  B. 
Andrews  (Secretary). 

The  First  National  Conference  on  Unemployment,  in  New 
York  city,  February  27-28,  1914,  was  called  for  the  purpose  of 
focusing  national  attention  upon  this  problem.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  proceedings  of  that  conference,  herewith  presented,  together 
with  the  select  critical  bibliography  on  unemployment  and  much 
other  valuable  data,  will  prove  of  assistance  to  the  growing  num- 
ber of  Americans  now  interested  in  this  important  question. 

JOHN  B.  ANDREWS,  Secretary, 
American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation. 


The  Unemployed 

I.  THE  EMPLOYABLE 

1.  Those  who  have  lately  been  in  definite 
situations  of  presumed  permanency;  e. g->  fac- 
tory and  clerical  workers. 

2.  Those  who  normally,  in  their  own  trades, 
shift  from  job  to  job,  and  from  one  employer  to 
another ;  c.  g.,  workers  in  the  building  trades. 

3.  Those  who  normally  earn  a  bare  sub- 
sistence  by  casual  jobs;    c.  g->   dock  workers, 
"lumberjacks." 

II.  THE  UNEMPLOYABLE 

4.  Those  who  have  been  ousted,  or  have 
wilfully  withdrawn  themselves,  from  the  ranks 
of  the  workers;  e.  g.,  the   aged,  the  infirm,  the 
criminal. 


For  the  employable  the  need  is  construc- 
tive work — regularized  business,  efficient  labor 
exchanges,  and  adequate  unemployment  in- 
surance. The  care  of  the  unemployable  is  the 
task  of  the  relief  agency,  the  hospital  and  the 
reformatory 


I 

IRREGULARITY  OF  EMPLOYMENT 


Presiding  Officer:  HENRY  R.  SEAGER 
President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 


JOHN  PURROY  MITCHEL 
Mayor,  New  York  City 


It  gives  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  to  extend  to 
you,  as  the  mayor  of  the  city,  the  welcome  of  New  York,  to  come 
here  to  hold  this  conference  on  this  important  subject  of 
unemployment. 

My  understanding  is  that  you  purpose  to  consider  the  causes  of 
unemployment  here,  and  the  means  of  avoiding  a  recurrence  of 
the  conditions  which  confront  us  to-day,  through  a  study  of  the 
causes  and  of  means  of  relief. 

New  York  believes  that  it  finds  itself  confronted  with  an  unusual 
condition  of  general  unemployment.  Various  estimates  were  made 
as  to  the  number  of  unemployed  men  in  this  city.  I  notice  you 
mention  in  your  program,  and  I  believe  I  myself  used  the  figure, 
that  the  total  number  of  unemployed  men  may  approximate  300,000. 
While  an  investigation  appears  to  show  that  that  figure  was  in  large 
measure  an  exaggeration,  nevertheless  I  think  we  all  agree  that  this 
year  in  the  city  there  was  a  condition  of  unemployment  that  was 
abnormal.  The  city  government,  realizing  that  a  duty  devolved 
upon  it  in  this  matter,  undertook  to  study  the  means  of  relief  which, 
through  its  agency,  could  be  brought  to  bear.  We  called  a  con- 
ference, and  out  of  that  conference  grew  the  suggestion  for  the 
establishment  of  a  municipal  employment  agency.  That  has  been 
established  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commissioner  of  licenses. 
Up  to  the  present  time  all  we  have  been  able  to  attempt  was  to  bring 
together  the  unemployed  people  of  the  state  and  employers  seeking 
employees,  through  the  cooperation  of  the  private  agencies.  Whe- 
ther we  shall  go  further  in  the  expansion  of  the  activities  and  func- 
tions of  this  municipal  employment  agency  is  a  question  that  we  are 
now  studying.  In  order  that  we  might  have  the  best  information  on 
this  question,  we  invited  here  Mr.  Leiserson,  who  has  directed  the 
study  of  unemployment  and  is  at  the  head  of  the  state  employment 
bureaus  of  Wisconsin,  and  we  have  in  our  hands  now  the  results  of 


222  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

the  study  of  the  local  situation  which  Mr.  Leiserson  has  made  here. 
We  must  now  go  on  and  determine  how  far  we  shall  extend  the 
functions  of  the  municipal  employment  agency,  which  I  believe 
is  going  to  be  a  permanent  institution  in  this  city. 

Of  course,  at  a  time  such  as  we  have  just  been  passing  through, 
various  suggestions  of  an  extreme  nature  are  always  made.  There 
are  people  who  want  the  city  government  to  withdraw  its  funds 
from  the  banks,  and  to  devote  them  to  the  employment  of  the  men 
and  women  who  have  not  been  able  to  find  work.  Others  have  sug- 
gested that  we  engage  in  some  new  public  works  which  would 
necessitate  large  expenditures  of  money  and  consequent  distribu- 
tion of  the  city's  funds  over  a  large  radius.  We  know,  of  course, 
that  it  is  the  history  of  every  government  which  has  undertaken  that 
policy  that  bankruptcy  follows  upon  such  a  course,  and  of  course 
it  has  been  impossible  for  the  city  of  New  York  to  commit  itself 
to  a  course  of  folly  of  that  kind.  But  everything  that  the  city  gov- 
ernment can  do  legitimately  within  the  exercise  of  its  proper  func- 
tions, and  with  a  view  to  the  duty  that  its  officials  owe  to  the  tax- 
payers and  to  the  great  body  of  citizens  in  the  city,  it  will  do,  to 
relieve  this  present  pressing  condition,  and  to  avoid  its  recurrence  in 
the  future. 

I  trust  that  out  of  your  conference  will  grow  many  useful  sug- 
gestions ;  useful  to  the  country  at  large,  but  particularly,  from  our 
point  of  view,  useful  to  New  York.  And  I  can  assure  you  that  we 
will  be  glad  to  take  under  careful  consideration  any  suggestion  that 
you  may  wish  to  make  to  the  local  government,  for  its  guidance  in 
this  matter.  I  wish  your  conference  great  success. 


REPORTS  OF  OFFICIAL  DELEGATES  ON  THE  STATE 
OF  EMPLOYMENT 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER:  In  planning  the  details  of  these  two  large 
conferences,  the  committee  has  proposed  to  attempt  this  morning  a 
sort  of  old-fashioned  experience  meeting.  We  have  representatives 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  all  parts  of  the  country  have  been 
aroused  as  to  this  problem  of  unemployment  this  winter. 

At  the  outset  we  would  like  to  assemble  the  information  that  all 
of  you  have  brought  here  as  to  local  conditions,  so  that  we  may  have 
it  in  our  minds  as  a  basis  for  the  more  constructive  part  of  the 
program  to  follow. 

We  had  invited  to  the  conference  Mr.  W.  H.  Beveridge,  who  has 
done  such  valuable  work  in  connection  with  the  effort  to  solve  the 
problem  in  England,  and  M.  Max  Lazard,  the  secretary  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  on  Unemployment.  Both  have  written  express- 
ing their  great  interest  in  the  American  situation,  and  regretting  that 
they  will  be  unable  to  be  present. 

I  shall  call  first  upon  a  representative  of  the  city  which  appears  to 
have  attacked  this  problem  in  the  most  aggresive  way,  namely, 
Chicago,  which  created  a  commission  on  unemployment  which  has 
already  made  a  report.  Next  we  shall  want  to  hear  from  the  other 
locality  which  seems  to  have  been  most  concerned  with  the  unem- 
ployment problem — San  Francisco,  away  across  the  continent — and  I 
shall  call  upon  the  official  representative  to  the  conference  appointed 
by  the  governor  of  California  and  by  the  mayor  of  San  Francisco. 

I  think  that  perhaps  the  fairest  way  to  proceed  to  get  light  on 
this  subject  from  other  states,  is  to  take  up  the  commonwealths  in 
their  alphabetical  order.  I  have  before  me  the  list  of  the  known 
delegates  from  the  different  states.  I  will,  with  your  permission, 
call  on  those  who  I  have  reason  to  believe  are  in  the  room,  and, 
having  heard  one  spokesman  from  each  state,  we  will  then  perhaps 
have  time  for  additional  speakers  approaching  the  problem  from 
other  angles  in  the  different  states. 

CHARLES  RICHMOND  HENDERSON,  Secretary,  Chicago,  Illinois, 
Unemployment  Commission:  I  shall  endeavor  to  tell  you  briefly 
what  we  in  Chicago  who  are  working  on  this  problem  of  unemploy- 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

ment  have  found,  and  what  we  are  attempting  to  do.  We  have 
found,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  situation,  as  far  as  we  can  discover, 
is  not  abnormal.  The  reports  to  us  from  the  trade  unions  and  from 
the  administrators  of  charities  are  somewhat  conflicting,  but  on 
the  whole  our  unemployment  commission,  which  has  been  at  work 
for  over  two  years  at  the  request  of  our  mayor  and  council,  believes 
that  there  is  nothing  this  year  very  different  from  what  we  ordin- 
narily  have.  The  trade  unions  that  we  asked  this  year  to  report  say, 
with  one  exception,  that  they  have  not  an  unusual  number  of  per- 
sons unemployed.  The  county  out-door  relief  agent  reports  that 
he  has  not  an  unusual  number  of  families  to  assist.  The  united 
charities,  which  is  our  largest  charitable  organization,  reports  that  it 
has  a  larger  number  than  usual,  due  not  altogether  to  unemployment, 
but  also  to  the  operation  of  a  certain  law  which  has  thrown  upon  it 
a  number  of  families  which  were  formerly  assisted  by  out-door 
relief. 

In  regard  to  the  agencies  that  we  have  been  studying,  we  have 
found,  as  usual,  a  wrong  and  chaotic  condition.  The  private  employ- 
ment bureaus  have  done  most  of  the  work,  at  an  enormous  cost, 
with  great  waste  of  resources,  and  sometimes  with  grave  abuses  on 
all  sides.  The  usual  effect  of  leaving  a  matter  of  such  great  public 
interest  to  private  profit-making  agencies  is  found. 

As  far  as  our  free  public  agencies  are  concerned  they  are  ineffi- 
cient to  a  very  high  degree.  I  can  blame — I  am  blaming — no  per- 
sons; but  the  circumstances  have  been  so  deplorable,  the  agencies 
have  been  so  ill-fitted  for  their  work,  and  they  have  been  supplied 
with  such  inadequate  resources,  that  we  may  say  they  are  almost  a 
failure.  Our  public  employment  agencies  need  enormous  improve- 
ment if  they  are  fairly  to  represent  the  intelligence  and  the  force' 
of  our  commonwealth. 

In  regard  to  private  efforts  to  relieve  the  distress,  what  we  have 
actually  done  is  very  little.  The  dispatches  show  one  picture: — 
400  Jewish  garment  workers,  immigrants,  yesterday  invaded  the 
city  hall  and  demanded  not  charity  but  a  job,  and  no  job  could  be 
found  for  them.  We  employed  for  two  months  a  vigorous  young 
man,  who  was  to  go  to  all  the  great  employers  of  labor  throughout 
the  state,  and  appeal  to  them  in  the  effort  to  find  jobs  for  the  thous- 
ands and  tens  of  thousands  of  men  who  could  not  get  work,  and  I 
think  he  succeeded  in  finding  places  for  about  250  persons — simply 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  225 

a  bagatelle!  It  was  an  utter  failure,  and  although  the  young  man 
was  appointed  on  the  advice  of  the  commission  and  of  the  mayor, 
they  discharged  him  at  the  end  of  two  months.  His  results,  how- 
ever, were  worth  all  the  cost  of  the  experiment — for  we  learned  that 
it  is  true  that  men  cannot  always  get  a  job  in  America  when  they 
want  it.  Here  were  thousands  of  honest  men,  eager  to  work,  and 
unable  to  find  work  on  any  conditions  whatever. 

We  also  thought  we  would  try  a  new  experiment.  On  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  federation  of  labor  we  have  opened  one  house  and 
probably  may  open  one  or  two  more  in  proper  quarters  of  the  city, 
for  the  sale  of  the  necessaries  of  life — food  and  fuel — substantially 
at  cost.  I  found,  however,  that  it  was  an  experiment  that  the  legis- 
lators of  Hamburg  had  tried  in  1788.  Of  course  it  will  help  a  few 
families;  but  it  is  just  a  little  drop  in  the  great  ocean  of  suffering 
and  want. 

We  purpose,  however,  to  improve  our  public  agencies  if  it  is 
possible  to  do  so.  We  have  already  offered  a  bill  which  was  last 
year  submitted  to  a  committee  but  never  got  out  of  the  committee. 
The  legislature  seemed  to  care  nothing  about  it. 

I  will  not  take  time  to  give  statistics.  Of  course  our  commission, 
as  is  usual,  collected  a  great  many  figures.  They  are,  as  usual,  also, 
confusing.  But  if  any  member  of  this  conference  desires  a  copy 
of  the  report,  he  can  have  it  upon  application  to  the  mayor ;  he  will 
then  have  figures  to  his  heart's  content. 

But  recurring  to  my  first  point — and  I  think  it  is  the  essential 
point  for  us — I  said  that  the  conditions  were  not  very  abnormal. 
But  the  tragedy  of  our  situation  in  Chicago  is  that  it  is  just  the 
ordinary,  inevitable,  steadily  recurring  situation  of  every  great 
center  of  industry  throughout  the  world.  That  is  the  fact  which  we 
have  discovered.  Our  unemployment  is  not  simply  spasmodic,  nor 
spectacular,  nor  unusual,  nor  peculiar  to  this  year,  nor  due  to  the 
change  of  administration,  nor  to  any  of  the  causes  to  which  it  is 
usually  attributed.  We  have  in  Chicago,  as  throughout  the  world, 
wherever  men  are  gathered  in  great  industries,  the  fact  of  the  great 
reserve  army  of  workers  without  jobs;  men  who  must  eat;  men 
who  must  live  over  those  times  at  their  own  cost,  in  order  that 
our  great  industries  may  continue.  That  is  the  problem  which  we 
have  confronting  us  in  Chicago,  and  which  we  do  not  think  that  any 
legal  means  can  solve.  And  I  have  come  here  from  the  middle 


226  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

west,  from  a  great  industrial  city,  to  learn  what  I  can,  and  to  unite 
with  you  in  the  effort  not  only  to  help  our  American  agencies,  but  to 
bind  ourselves  together  in  a  national  enterprise,  with  municipal, 
commonwealth,  federal,  and  even  international  organizations,  at 
least  to  mitigate,  if  we  cannot  altogether  prevent,  the  suffering  that 
inevitably  comes  through  the  conditions  of  the  great  industries  in  our 
time.  That  is  the  message  that  I  bring  from  our  commission  and  its 
two  years  of  study  in  Chicago. 

ANDREW  J.  GALLAGHER,  President,  San  Francisco  Labor  Council, 
California:  San  Francisco's  experiment  in  the  matter  of  taking  care 
of  the  unemployed  this  year  was  only  sort  of  a  panacea;  it  did  not 
do  any  good;  it  was  merely  an  effort  to  relieve  the  situation 
temporarily. 

I  shall  say  for  California  that  we  had  an  extraordinarily  large 
number  of  unemployed.  In  the  winter  a  good  many  of  those  who 
are  unemployed,  and  who  can  do  so,  move  toward  the  west  because 
the  weather  conditions  there  are  better,  and  because  the  man  who 
is  down  and  out — the  migratory  laborer  so-called — has  a  better  op- 
portunity in  that  climate,  at  least  as  far  as  climate  is  concerned,  than 
he  has  elsewhere.  So  that  this  winter  we  found  our  unusually  large 
local  unemployment  problem  complicated  by  an  unusually  large 
number  of  unemployed  who  migrated  to  our  state  as  a  result,  we 
believe,  of  a  larger  amount  of  unemployment  throughout  the  coun- 
try generally  than  formerly.  In  San  Francisco  we  treated  the  prob- 
lem as  best  we  could.  We  found  ourselves  with  from  3,000  to  6,000 
men  who  had  come  to  San  Francisco,  and  who  clamored  for  work 
and  for  bread.  The  city  council  gave  to  the  limit  of  its  resources, 
and  every  man  who  applied  was  taken  care  of.  The  citizens  sub- 
scribed to  a  fund  and  work  was  piovided,  at  very  low  wages,  how- 
ever, not  at  all  commensurate  with  the  work  performed. 

There  was  one  idea  we  did  destroy,  and  that  is  the  idea  that  these 
men  were  worthless,  that  they  were  unworthy  of  assistance,  that  they 
would  not  work  if  work  were  provided,  that  they  simply  migrated 
to  California  in  winter  because  the  weather  was  somewhat  pleasant, 
and  that  they  cared  to  stay  there  just  long  enough  to  wear  off 
the  chill  of  some  other  place.  I  can  say  to  you  that  our  experience 
in  the  matter  of  providing  employment  for  men,  that  is,  as  to 
their  acceptance  of  it,  was  remarkable.  The  reports  which  reached 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  227 

us  through  five  different  sources — the  departments  having  charge 
of  the  men — were  to  the  effect  that  the  percentage  of  men  unwilling 
to  work  was  a  very,  very  small  one,  so  small  that  it  was  surprising. 
We  have  an  idea  that  central  employment  offices,  provided  by 
the  cooperation  of  all  of  the  governors  of  states  and  mayors  of 
cities,  might  very  much  relieve  the  situation. 

W.  R.  FAIRLEY,  Organizer,  United  Mine  Workers  of  America, 
Alabama:  While  a  member  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  Amer- 
ica, I  am  here  representing  the  state  of  Alabama.  As  far  as  un- 
employment in  Alabama  is  concerned,  it  is  not  more  acute  at  this 
time  than  in  any  previous  winter  that  I  know  of.  There  has  been 
no  effort  made,  however,  in  the  state,  for  municipal  employment 
agencies.  The  licensed  employment  agent  is  doing  his  work  as  he 
has  done  it  for  many  years;  the  state  has  taken  no  interest  in  the 
matter,  nor  attempted  to  alter  that  condition. 

As  far  as  charity  is  concerned,  and  helping  men  who  are  out  of 
employment,  charity  is  greater  now  than  it  has  ever  been,  more 
assistance  is  being  given  to  those  who  need  help  than  I  remember 
in  my  lifetime.  I  want  to  say,  however,  that  people  do  not  desire 
charity,  they  desire  employment.  I  hope  that  there  may  be  some- 
thing done  in  this  convention  to  give  some  impetus  to  the  matter 
of  giving  employment,  instead  of  doling  out  charity  when  times  are 
hard.  When  I  get  home  I  shall  certainly  advocate  the  institution 
of  municipal  labor  agencies,  so  that  men  who  are  out  of  employ- 
ment may  depend  on  having  a  fair  deal  when  they  are  seeking 
employment. 

WILLIAM  J.  GHENT,  Phoenix,  Arizona:  In  the  municipalities  of 
northern  Arizona  the  number  of  unemployed  persons  this  last 
winter  and  spring  has  apparently  been  about  normal.  In  the 
southern  half  of  the  state,  on  the  other  hand,  in  spite  of  a  gener- 
ally brisk  condition  of  business,  there  has  been  a  great  surplus  of 
labor. 

The  mild  and  healthful  winter  climate  here  always  draws  large 
numbers  of  unemployed  from  the  north  and  east.  The  unusual 
surplus  this  year  came  largely  from  California — a  receding  wave 
of  the  tide  of  workers  who  sought  the  Pacific  coast  for  employment 
last  fall. 


228  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Most  of  these  workers,  after  trying  out  the  southern  towns  and 
cites,  moved  on  to  the  east  and  north.  Bisbee,  Tucson,  Douglas 
and  Yuma  report  about  the  same  condition  as  has  been  witnessed 
in  Phoenix.  In  spite  of  this  movement,  however,  the  permanent 
surplus  of  labor  for  the  winter  and  spring  has  been  abnormal. 

Little  has  been  done  in  the  matter  of  official  measures  for  relief. 
A  heavy  drain  has  been  made  upon  charity  organizations,  trade 
unions  and  fraternal  associations  in  giving  aid  to  the  destitute,  but 
the  municipalities  have  in  the  main  ignored  the  problem.  In  some  of 
them  the  "move-on"  policy  has  been  adopted  and  rigorously  carried 
out.  In  Phoenix  and  in  Bisbee  the  Socialist  platforms  in  the  spring 
elections  demanded  official  relief,  but  it  has  not  been  forthcoming. 
In  Phoenix,  following  a  visit  of  committees  from  the  Trades 
Council  and  the  I.  W.  W.,  the  common  council  established  a  free 
employment  bureau,  which  has  done  some  good,  but  in  no  place 
has  public  work  been  extended  in  order  to  give  employment. 

WILLIAM  C.  CHENEY,  Cheney  Brothers'  Silk  Company,  South 
Manchester,  Connecticut:  I  can  say  only  a  few  words,  coming 
from  what  might  be  called  the  rural  community  of  Connecticut 
in  a  somewhat  industrial  center. 

It  is  my  understanding  that  this  condition  of  unemployment  has 
not  existed  or  does  not  exist  in  Connecticut  to  any  alarming  extent. 
I  can  say,  as  an  employer  of  labor,  that  it  was  very  hard  last 
fall  to  get  help.  However  that  condition  has  disappeared  somewhat, 
and  employers  in  the  textile  industries  now  have  a  much  better  op- 
portunity of  choosing  their  class  of  help.  This,  of  course,  naturally 
throws  out  many  people  who  perhaps  are  very  anxious  to  obtain 
work,  but  with  very  slight  letting  up  in  business.  The  employer 
has  reached  a  point  in  Connecticut,  I  believe,  where  he  is  obliged 
to  discriminate  somewhat  in  the  new  help  which  he  takes  on.  I 
do  not  think  any  concerted  effort  has  been  made  outside  of  what 
is  always  done  in  municipalities  and  towns  to  modify  this  condition, 
because,  as  I  said  before,  it  has  not  taken  an  acute  form  just  yet, 
although  in  cities  like  Hartford,  New  Haven  and  Bridgeport  I 
believe  there  is  perhaps  an  unusual  amount  of  unemployed  labor 
at  this  time.  This  is  a  natural  condition  which  seems  to  come 
about  at  different  periods.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  take  back  to 
our  most  respected  governor  of  Connecticut,  or  to  any  one  else 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  229 

in  that  state,  any  recommendations  which  may  be  adopted  by  this 
gathering,  or  any  plan  which  may  come  out  of  this  meeting.  Because, 
no  doubt,  if  this  thing  continues,  Connecticut,  being  very  largely 
a  manufacturing  community,  will  have  to  face  this  problem  as  other 
communities  have.  The  representative  from  New  Haven  may  throw 
some  more  light  upon  the  condition  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  state. 

WILLIAM  S.  PARDEE,  New  Haven,  Connecticut:  I  do  not  think 
I  can  add  anything  to  what  Mr.  Cheney  has  said.  I  am  in  the  manu- 
facturing business  also,  and  we  have  had  very  few  who  came  to  us 
for  help  the  last  two  months.  I  am  located  in  New  Haven  and  it  is 
true  that  New  Haven  is  pretty  well  employed.  It  is  also  true  that 
during  this  last  heavy  snow  storm  the  men  they  had  to  employ  to 
clear  the  streets  were  large,  able-bodied  men.  Ordinarily  they  have 
to  employ  the  poorer  class.  Now  that  might  indicate  that  the  able- 
bodied  men  were  out  of  work,  but  it  was  not  so.  They  had  to  go 
and  get  the  able-bodied  men  to  do  the  work. 

EMILY  P.  BISSELL,  Delaware  Child  Labor  Commission:  Dela- 
ware is  the  smallest  state  of  the  United  States  in  population,  but  in 
a  smaller  state  we  get  closer  to  facts  than  in  larger  ones,  where  we 
cannot  grasp  all  the  facts.  Delaware  is  divided  into  two  parts — one 
part,  the  city  of  Wilmington,  which  has  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment industrially,  and  the  country,  which  has  the  problem  agri- 
culturally. We  assume  that  the  problem  is  most  vital  in  the  large 
cities,  on  the  whole;  but  in  Delaware  we  get  the  out-of-works 
coming  from  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  even  from  New  York, 
while  our  unemployed  go  to  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Baltimore, 
so  that  I  know  from  my  experience  the  situation  is  interwoven — 
there  is  no  city  that  lives  to  itself  alone. 

Unemployment  in  our  town  is  said  to  be  not  as  great  as  in 
1893,  but  almost  as  great  as  in  1907,  and  greater  than  in  other  years 
between  those  times,  so  that  I  would  say  it  is  a  little  more  than 
normal. 

We  have  very  few  seasonal  occupations,  which  make  things  worse, 
and  laborers  have  been  in  demand  in  the  farming  communities 
even  in  the  winter  for  certain  work,  so  that  ought  to  relieve  our 
situation.  We  have  no  public  employment  bureaus  or  exchanges, 
but  private  agencies  help  some.  The  iron  and  steel  works  form 


230  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

the  greatest  of  our  Wilmington  industries,  and  the  leather  indus- 
tries are  second.  In  our  largest  industry,  the  foundries,  we  have 
worse  conditions  than  in  1907,  and  no  relief  is  in  sight.  At  our 
shipyards  we  average  only  fifty  hours  of  work  a  week,  and  only 
employ  half  the  regular  force.  Of  course  these  figures  do  not  mean 
that  these  men  are  destitute.  Some  of  them  earn  good  money  and 
are  able  to  tide  over  these  times,  and  many  of  the  people  tell  us 
that  by  the  first  of  March  the  conditions  will  be  better.  Another 
large  machine  shop  is  averaging  only  forty  hours  a  week,  with  25 
per  cent  unemployed,  which  is  about  the  same  as  it  ran  in  1907. 
Another  large  shipyard  is  putting  in  only  a  third  of  its  usual  time 
and  about  50  per  cent  of  the  men  are  unemployed.  The  large  cotton 
mills  are  running  the  same  as  usual. 

We  have  no  help  for  this  condition.  The  city  council  has  been 
asked  to  appropriate  money  for  public  work,  but  as  it  had  a  deficit 
it  cannot  do  so.  The  one  thing  that  may  be  of  interest  to  this 
gathering  is  that  Delaware  suffers  in  its  agricultural  section  from 
seasonal  troubles.  We  could  use  a  great  many  men  in  summer. 
Delaware  has  become  a  garden  and  blossoms  as  the  rose,  but  we 
have  to  import  labor  under  a  sort  of  padrone  system,  from  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore,  to  do  the  work.  This  is  the  worst  kind  of 
labor.  The  same  condition  prevails  in  New  Jersey  and  Maryland. 

JOHN  F.  CONNELLY,  Maine  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  Industry: 
In  the  paper-making  industry  employment  has  been  steady  this 
winter.  A  new  working  agreement  has  just  been  signed  between  the 
leading  companies  and  their  employees  calling  for  a  general  average 
increase  in  wages  of  n  per  cent.  The  textile  industry  has  as  a  rule 
been  working  the  average  number.  I  have  heard  it  stated  that  the 
only  exception  to  this  would  be  among  the  manufacturers  of  the 
cheaper  grade  of  woolens.  The  boot  and  shoe  industry  has  employed 
about  the  average,  with  a  slight  slackness  the  past  two  months.  The 
lumbering  operations  have  employed  not  quite  so  many  as  the  pre- 
vious seasons,  but  about  the  average.  The  winter  has  been  unusually 
severe,  thus  adding  to  the  possibilities  of  hardship. 

No  organized  effort  has  been  made  to  relieve  unemployment  out- 
side of  what  was  done  by  the  usual  local  charitable  and  similar 
associations  and  officials.  The  only  exception  that  has  come  to  my 
notice  is  at  Bangor,  where  for  the  past  week  free  meals  have  been 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  231 

served  to  the  unemployed  by  the  city  authorities;  free  beds 
were  also  provided  at  the  county  building  by  the  county  commission- 
ers and  the  county  sheriff.  This  has  been  necessary  to  relieve  a  tem- 
porary situation  caused  by  the  lumbering  operations  closing  slightly 
earlier  than  usual  and  the  continued  cold  weather  of  the  past  few 
weeks  making  the  "river  driving"  season  late  in  starting,  thus  in- 
creasing by  about  two  weeks  the  "waiting  period"  between  the  two 
seasons  of  the  lumbering  industry.  Large  crews  are  now  being 
shipped  daily. 

JOHN  H.  FERGUSON,  President,  Maryland  State  Federation  of  La- 
bor: The  state  of  Maryland  is  practically  composed  of  one  city  and  a 
number  of  villages.  Baltimore  is  facing  a  great  problem  of  unem- 
ployment. We  have  to-day  approximately  25,000  men  in  Baltimore 
out  of  work.  This  would  perhaps  not  seem  such  a  great  problem,  if 
it  were  not  that  when  these  men  are  at  work  they  receive  such  a 
meager  wage  that  it  is  practically  impossible  for  them  to  save  any- 
thing to  tide  them  over  the  period  of  unemployment. 

Baltimore  is  a  large  clothing  manufacturing  center.  It  would 
hardly  be  fair  to  bring  into  the  question  the  clothing  workers  who 
are  not  now  employed,  because  the  clothing  industry  is  a  seasonal 
one,  and  there  are  a  great  many  clothing  workers  unemployed  now 
who  will  soon  go  to  work  and  work  three  months,  only  to  loaf  again, 
and  then  go  to  work  for  three  months  longer.  They  consider  six 
months'  work  in  the  year  a  fairly  good  year. 

In  the  building  trades  in  Baltimore  there  are  a  great  many  men 
out  of  work  due  to  the  season  of  the  year.  There  is  no  reason  why 
there  should  be  an  extra  number  of  building  trade  employees  out 
of  work  because  we  have  had  an  exceptionally  open  winter,  and  there 
have  been  more  building  operations  than  usual,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  they  are  out  of  work.  The  building  trades  in  Baltimore 
are  not  highly  paid  as  in  other  cities,  like  New  York  and  San  Fran- 
cisco. The  miscellaneous  trades  in  the  state  are  fairly  well  employed. 
The  printing  industry,  of  course,  holds  its  own — it  always  does, 
because  it  is  indoor  work — and  we  have  very  few  men  unemployed 
in  that  trade. 

The  lady  from  Delaware  mentioned  the  number  of  people,  and 
the  class  of  people,  who  come  from  Maryland  into  Delaware.  I 
would  like  to  say  that  that  is  one  of  the  gravest  problems  with 


232  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

which  we  have  to  struggle  in  our  state.  In  the  garment  working 
trade  the  workers  were  at  one  time  almost  entirely  German.  Then 
the  Hebrews  came  into  the  trade,  and  the  Germans  were  driven  out. 
Now  Baltimore  is  being  overrun  with  Lithuanians,  Poles  and  Ital- 
ians, who  are  driving  the  Hebrew  people  from  this  trade,  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  next  step  in  this  great  industry  will  be  the  driving 
out  of  the  Italians  and  the  Lithuanians  and  the  Poles,  and  the  taking 
of  their  places  by  colored  people.  Baltimore  is  being  exploited  in 
the  dumping  of  unskilled  laborers.  They  are  crowding  our  poorer 
sections,  they  are  rilling  up  our  cities,  and  they  are  creating  a  condi- 
tion in  which  we  have  not  ten  men  for  nine  jobs,  but  where  we  have 
fifteen  men  for  nine  jobs.  When  that  condition  confronts  the  work- 
ing people  in  any  city  you  will  find  that  there  will  be  a  continual 
driving  down  of  the  wage;  and  if  the  wages  are  driven  down,  when 
the  person  finds  that  he  is  unemployed,  he  has  nothing  to  tide  him 
over  the  distress  period.  The  present  distress  is  therefore  very 
great  in  Baltimore. 

We  have  state  provision  for  a  bureau  for  the  employment  of  men 
and  women  who  are  out  of  work.  Unfortunately,  our  state  is  not 
only  a  low  wage  state,  but  it  is  also  a  very  parsimonious  state.  The 
bureau  of  statistics  and  information,  which  is  supposed  to  take  care 
of  this  out-of-work  feature,  is  hampered  through  lack  of  funds.  We 
have  a  very  able  chief — and  yet  this  man  is  supposed  to  take  care 
of  the  child  labor  law,  the  factory  inspection  laws,  and  of  all  the 
other  laws  pertaining  to  a  bureau  of  labor  besides,  and  he  is  supposed 
to  look  out  for  the  unemployed  people  in  the  state  of  Maryland,  and 
he  is  allowed  $10,000  per  annum  with  which  to  do  it.  Out  of  this 
there  are  many  salaries  to  be  paid ;  one  of  $2,500,  one  of  $1,600,  three 
of  $900,  leaving  $3,200  for  rent,  printing,  incidental  expenses,  etc., 
in  taking  care  of  25,000  unemployed  people.  It  is  a  tremendous 
amount  of  money  to  entrust  to  one  man ! 

In  the  trades  unions  we  have  various  ways  of  taking  care  of  the 
men.  In  my  own  union,  the  typographical  union,  we  have  a  way  of 
taking  care  of  our  people,  and  other  unions  are  trying  similar  plans, 
but  there  are  many  people  who  have  not  yet  seen  the  light,  and  who 
have  no  one  to  take  care  of  them.  We  are  very  much  interested 
in  this  problem  of  unemployment,  and  if  I  can  carry  back  to  my 
people  in  Baltimore  some  solution  of  this  problem,  I  shall  think  that 
my  trip  has  not  been  in  vain. 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  233 

WALTER  M.  LOWNEY,  Director,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Chamber 
of  Commerce :  I  am  here  under  instructions  from  the  Boston  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  of  which  I  am  a  director.  I  am  here  to  learn.  I 
am  personally  interested  very  much  in  the  state  of  unemployment. 
I  have  no  figures,  and  can  give  you  no  special  information,  but  in 
my  opinion  there  is  not  at  the  present  time  in  Massachusetts,  or  in 
Boston,  any  larger  number  of  unemployed  people  than  is  normal. 
I  would  rather  incline  to  believe  that  at  this  time  there  are  less 
unemployed  in  Boston  and  in  that  immediate  vicinity  than  there  were 
a  year  ago. 

JAMES  V.  CUNNINGHAM,  Michigan  Commissioner  of  Labor: 
This  matter  of  unemployment  is  one  in  which  Michigan  as  a  state 
is  interested,  and  since  1905  there  has  been  some  work  done  along 
the  line  of  securing  employment  in  the  state  of  Michigan  for  the 
unemployed.  The  state  operates  five  public  employment  bureaus. 
There  have  been  other  bureaus  created  by  the  legislature,  but  no  fund 
provided  with  which  to  carry  on  the  work. 

The  condition  in  Michigan  at  the  present  time  is  not  what  we 
consider  bad.  In  Detroit,  the  largest  city  of  the  state,  which  is  the 
great  automobile  manufacturing  center,  we  have  a  large  number  of 
men  unemployed.  We  have  had  them  with  us  for  -ome  time.  They 
all  seem  to  strike  out  for  Detroit,  with  the  idea  that  there  is  a  position 
open  there  in  the  automobile  factories,  and  when  they  get  there  they 
seem  to  think  so  well  of  us  that  they  hang  around.  It  gives  the 
employers  in  that  line  of  business  and  others  an  opportunity  to 
select  the  best  material,  perhaps,  that  comes  to  Detroit,  and  we 
have  a  large  number  of  what  they  term  up  there  "low  speed  men" 
who  are  out  of  work.  The  manufacturers'  association  secretary 
figures  that  there  are  somewhere  around  40,000  unemployed  in 
Detroit.  The  superintendent  of  the  poor  figures  that  there  are  about 
15,000  unemployed.  There  seems  to  be  some  discrepancy  between 
Mr.  Whirl,  of  the  employers,  and  the  superintendent  of  the  poor. 
Then  Mr.  Whirl  also  claims  that  there  are  perhaps  20,000  other 
men  who  are  out  of  a  job  temporarily  for  a  day  or  so,  by  reason  of 
moving  around  from  one  place  of  employment  to  another. 

The  poor  commission  in  Detroit  maintains  an  employment  bureau. 
I  happened  to  be  the  first  man  in  charge  of  it,  and  they  did  really 
good  work  there  in  the  way  of  taking  care  of  the  boys  of  widowed 


234  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

mothers  who  ordinarily  cannot  handle  the  boys  themselves.  They 
got  hold  of  the  boys  and  secured  employment  for  them  and  tried 
to  keep  them  in  the  straight  and  narrow  path.  My  experience  there 
was  that  the  daughters  of  women  who  were  being  assisted  were 
usually  employed;  they  seemed  to  be  better  workers  than  the  boys. 
Along  with  the  boys  the  poor  commission  cares  for  those  who  apply 
for  help  there.  There  are  men  who  are  employed  during  certain 
parts  of  the  year  and  they  may  apply  for  coal  and  provisions  during 
the  winter  months.  The  bureau  makes  an  effort  to  secure  work  for 
these  men.  Some  of  them  may  not  be  able-bodied,  not  able  to  do 
hard  work,  but  there  is  an  effort  made  on  the  part  of  the  man  who 
has  charge  of  this  particular  department  to  secure  some  particular 
work  for  the  men  who  cannot  do  all  kinds  of  work.  They  try  to 
get  a  job  to  fit  the  man. 

The  free  employment  bureaus  operated  by  the  state  are  located 
in  five  of  our  cities.  On  February  6th  of  this  year  I  wrote  all  the 
county  clerks  in  the  state  in  whose  counties  there  are  no  public 
employment  offices,  asking  them  to  cooperate  with  us  by  maintaining 
a  free  bureau  in  connection  with  their  regular  work,  in  the  absence 
of  any  law,  and  without  any  additional  remuneration  for  their  ser- 
vices. I  said  to  them  that  I  believed  the  satisfaction  they  would 
derive  from  the  fact  that  they  were  assisting  the  unemployed  and 
also  those  who  wanted  workmen  would  be  a  fair  remuneration,  for 
the  present  at  least.  Possibly  later  on  some  laws  might  be  arranged 
whereby  they  would  be  paid  for  their  services.  Within  two  weeks 
over  one-half  of  the  county  clerks  in  the  state  had  agreed  to  take 
up  the  work,  and  I  forwarded  to  them  the  necessary  equipment.  I 
am  in  hopes  that  through  those  agencies  in  the  different  farming 
communities  we  will  be  able  to  get  a  lot  of  the  farm  workers  who 
are  at  present  in  the  state  back  out  to  the  farms,  and  that  after  they 
once  get  out  there  they  will  be  kept  out  there.  At  present  when  we 
send  a  man  out  fifty,  sixty  or  seventy-five  miles  to  a  farming  job, 
when  he  gets  through  with  that  job  he  comes  back  for  another  posi- 
tion. Now  I  am  in  hopes  that  when  a  good  man  gets  through  with 
one  position  there,  the  county  clerks  arid  farmers  may  make  an 
effort  to  keep  him  in  the  locality.  This  week  we  advertised  in  the 
Detroit  papers  for  all  men  desiring  to  go  to  work  on  farms  either  to 
send  their  names  and  addresses  to  us,  at  our  offices,  or  preferably 
to  call  there  and  register  with  us,  in  order  that  we  might  be  able  to 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  235 

know  where  to  find  farm  help ;  and  I  hope  that  a  great  deal  of  good 
will  come  from  that. 

I  have  all  kinds  of  confidence  in  public  employment  bureaus.  I 
know  a  lot  of  good  can  be  done  through  them.  I  have  no  particular 
desire  to  state  who  should  carry  on  this  work.  I  may  find,  perhaps, 
that  some  think  the  federal  government  should  carry  on  the  work; 
others,  that  municipalities  should;  others,  that  it  should  be  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  state  labor  department,  and  so  forth.  I  do 
not  agree  with  people  who  think  it  should  be  separated  from  the 
state  labor  department,  but  as  I  say,  I  am  not  seeking  to  convert 
anybody.  I  believe  that  it  is  a  matter  pertaining  strictly  to  labor  and 
I  believe  that  if  your  labor  departments  in  your  states  amount  to 
anything,  that  is  the  place  where  this  employment  department  posi- 
tively and  strictly  belongs.  I  believe  if  the  man  at  the  head  of  the 
labor  department  is  honestly  interested  in  the  welfare  of  humanity, 
he  is  the  fellow  who  can  handle  this  with  less  expense  than  anybody 
else. 

MARIA  L.  SANFORD,  University  of  Minnesota:  As  I  have  been  in 
New  York  since  the  first  of  November,  I  am  not  able  to  give  testi- 
mony in  regard  to  local  conditions.  But  there  is  one  thing  in  Minne- 
sota that  it  seems  to  me  is  worth  while  to  mention  in  this  conference. 
The  city  of  Duluth  has  been  digging  sewers  through  the  winter,  for 
the  purpose  of  keeping  employed  the  men  of  the  city  who  need  help, 
employing  first  the  men  with  families  and  after  that  men  who  have 
been  residents  of  the  city  for  some  time.  I  understand  that  the 
experiment  has  been  found  successful. 

L.  A.  HALBERT,  Superintendent,  Board  of  Public  Welfare,  Kansas 
City,  Missouri:  In  Kansas  City  the  board  of  public  welfare  made 
some  study  of  unemployment  in  1911,  and  has  made  a  small  study 
of  it  lately,  with  a  view  to  giving  some  information  here.  The  study 
in  1911  was  more  careful,  and  we  got  from  the  employers  of  labor 
in  manufacturing  industries  and  in  contracting  work  a  statement 
with  regard  to  the  fluctuation  in  the  number  that  they  employed  at 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  which  showed  that  there  was  a  con- 
siderable difference  between  the  summer  and  the  winter.  We  also 
estimated  the  number  of  unemployed  homeless  men  who  came  into 
Kansas  City  in  the  winter  time,  who  were  ordinarily  engaged  in 
farm  labor,  and  in  railroad  construction  work,  and  we  made  an 


236  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

estimate   of    6,000   unemployed    from   usual   changes    in    seasonal 
occupations. 

Lately  we  wanted  to  find  out  the  number  of  unemployed  and  went 
to  the  places  where  men  seek  employment  in  the  larger  industries. 
In  that  way  we  made  an  estimate  from  about  one-half  of  the  large 
manufacturing  cities  and  other  cities  in  the  state  where  people 
usually  apply  for  employment;  we  added  to  that  the  homeless  men 
who  come  in  from  outside  of  the  city,  and  we  arrived  at  the  figure 
of  10,000  out  of  employment.  But  only  half  of  the  places  where 
people  usually  are  employed  were  running  when  we  went  to  count, 
so  that  there  should  be  3,000  or  4,000  added  if  the  proportion  re- 
mained the  same  throughout  the  whole  number  of  establishments, 
which  would  make  the  number  of  unemployed  13,000  or  14,000. 
And  that  takes  account  only  of  wage  workers,  and  does  not  take  in 
the  professional  and  clerical  classes.  There  may  be  some  always 
unemployed  in  those  classes,  which  would  tend  to  show  a  total  volijn, 
of  unemployment  in  the  neighborhood  of  15,000. 

The  trade  unions  reported  to  us  a  total  of  5,000  men  out  of 
employment.  The  maximum  number  of  labor  union  men  in  Kansas 
City  is  20,000  or  probably  less,  so  that  their  estimate  would  show 
25  per  cent  of  the  union  men  out  of  employment.  Of  course  if 
that  condition  extended  throughout  the  wage  workers  of  the  state, 
it  would  again  justify  an  estimate  of  about  15,000,  because  the 
average  amount  of  unemployment  among  union  men  is  at  least  no 
larger  than  the  unemployment  that  would  prevail  among  wage 
workers  generally. 

The  amount  of  relief  that  has  been  asked  for  at  the  Provident 
Association,  which  is  the  one  great  relief  agency  of  the  state,  is  one- 
third  larger  than  it  has  been  in  other  winters  ordinarily,  and  the- 
amount  of  relief  that  we  have  been  required  to  grant  through  the 
Helping  Hand  Institute  has  been  nearly  twice  as  large  as  it  was 
before. 

The  number  of  jobs  that  we  have  been  able  to  secure  through  our 
employment  bureau  is  smaller  this  winter  than  last,  and  is  much 
smaller  in  the  winter  than  in  the  summer.  Last  summer  it  reached 
as  high  as  300  jobs  a  day,  but  at  present  it  is  about  forty. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  tell  to  what  extent  our  experience  is  repre- 
sentative. We  have  had  a  system  of  providing  for  the  able-bodied 
unemployed  at  a  municipal  quarry,  where  they  are  paid  a  small  price 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  237 

for  breaking  rock  used  for  construction  purposes.  But  that  system 
has  a  tendency  to  cause  men  who  do  not  like  to  meet  that  kind  of  a 
test  to  go  to  the  other  cities  where  they  hear  that  a  large  amount  of 
free  lodgings  and  free  meals  are  being  distributed.  St.  Louis  opened 
a  municipal  lodging  house  which  had  200  or  300  men  the  first  day, 
and  the  number  increased  to  over  1,000  that  were  being  given  free 
lodgings  at  one  time ;  the  men  were  furnished  one  meal  a  day  when 
the  officials  were  unable  to  offer  th«m  employment.  I  stated  to  the 
superintendent  that  the  accommodations  were  very  crude,  and  he  told 
me  that  the  men  liked  it  better  than  they  did  in  Kansas  City.  I  said 
that  that  was  good  for  us,  commenting  on  the  fact  that  the  men 
knew  they  had  to  work  for  what  they  got  in  Kansas  City. 

It  is  doubtful  if  unemployment  in  Kansas  City  is  worse  than  in 
other  places.  Still,  it  is  a  railroad  center,  where  thirty-two  railroads 
have  lines,  and  a  good  deal  of  construction  work  is  carried  on,  so 
uiat  we  have  a  rather  undue  proportion  of  transient  laborers. 

W.  J.  SWINDLEHURST,  Montana  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  In- 
dustry: I  have  just  completed,  at  the  governor's  request,  a  ten 
days'  investigation  in  the  cities  of  Great  Falls,  Billings,  Butte  and 
Missoula,  during  which,  in  addition  to  making  a  thorough  personal 
investigation  in  the  cities  mentioned,  I  endeavored  to  ascertain,  by 
inquiry  among  large  employers  of  labor,  representatives  of  labor 
unions  and  officials  of  charitable  and  philanthropic  organizations, 
the  conditions  prevailing  not  only  in  the  cities  actually  visited,  but 
also  in  adjacent  territory. 

In  any  survey  of  labor  conditions  at  this  time  of  year  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that,  not  only  in  Montana,  but  in  other  northern 
latitudes,  there  are  many  large  avenues  of  employment  which  are 
necessarily  closed  during  the  winter  months.  Climatic  conditions 
compel  the  cessation  of  activities  in  practically  all  outdoor  con- 
struction work,  a  class  of  work  which  has  been  unusually  heavy  in 
Montana  during  the  past  few  years.  In  addition,  the  demand  for 
farm  labor  in  winter  is  much  lighter  than  in  the  summer;  and  in 
fact,  this  statement  will  hold  true  with  many  other  lines  of  industry 
in  which  unskilled  labor  is  largely  employed.  This  condition  is, 
of  course,  appreciated  by  the  great  body  of  workingmen,  and  is, 
as  far  as  possible,  provided  against.  Reviewing  present  labor  con- 
ditions in  Montana  in  the  light  of  these  facts,  it  is  my  pleasure  to 


238  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

report  that  the  situation  in  this  state  not  only  fails  to  present  any 
unusual  or  alarming  features,  but  is,  I  can  conservatively  say,  better 
than  the  average  found  at  this  time  of  year.  While  there  is  plenty 
of  labor  to  meet  the  present  demand,  there  is  comparatively  little 
idleness,  and  recent  newspaper  statements  regarding  the  number  of 
unemployed  have  been  exaggerated.  The  only  place  in  the  state 
where  idle  men  are  to  be  found  in  any  great  number  is  in  the  city 
of  Butte,  where  there  are  estimated  to  be  2,000  unemployed,  and 
this  condition  is  apparently  due  to  the  activity  of  the  copper  min- 
ing industry  in  that  locality,  with  its  comparatively  short  hours  and 
high  wages,  which  has  attracted  a  considerable  number  of  unem- 
ployed from  other  states,  especially  from  the  copper  mining  district 
of  Michigan,  now  suffering  from  a  prolonged  and  bitter  strike. 

Considerable  new  railroad  building  has  been  going  on  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  state  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1913,  and 
practically  all  this  class  of  work  is  now  necessarily  closed  for  the 
winter  season.  This  has  resulted  in  the  enforced  idleness  of  many 
men,  and  a  large  proportion  of  this  class  of  laborers  naturally  drifts 
into  the  larger  towns  tributary  and  adjacent,  adding  to  the  number 
of  unemployed.  Despite  this  condition,  however,  I  was  informed 
by  reliable  authorities  at  Great  Falls  that  there  were  not  to  exceed 
100  idle  men  in  that  city.  In  practically  all  of  the  larger  cities  of 
the  state,  the  police  department  freely  gives  lodging  and  breakfast 
to  unemployed  men  who  are  entirely  without  means  of  support.  It 
is  interesting  to  know  that  in  the  city  of  Great  Falls  there  were  only 
68  requests  for  this  kind  of  accommodation  during  the  month  of 
December — a  number  no  higher  than  usual  during  the  winter 
months,  according  to  the  chief  of  police. 

In  Butte,  while  conditions  are  somewhat  unusual,  they  are  not  at 
all  alarming.  I  spent  several  days  in  that  city,  and  made  a  very 
thorough  canvass  of  the  situation.  I  visited  the  Butt  Free  Employ- 
ment office,  the  Salvation  Army  headquarters,  and  talked  with  many 
laboring  men.  When  asked  about  the  number  of  idle  men  in  Butte 
at  the  present  time,  Mr.  J.  B.  Savage  of  the  Butte  Free  Employ- 
ment office  said  he  thought  2,000  would  be  a  conservative  estimate. 
In  this  connection,  however,  attention  is  invited  to  the  fact  that 
even  in  normal  times,  there  are  in  Butte,  according  to  Mr.  Savage, 
an  average  of  from  500  to  600  idle  men,  the  inevitable  floating 
population  which  centers  in  a  large  industrial  community.  A  large 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  239 

proportion  of  the  present  force  of  idle  men  are  miners  from  the 
Calumet  and  Hecla  district  in  Michigan,  and  many  of  them  are 
given  rustling  cards,  and  make  the  rounds  of  the  mines  daily  in 
search  of  work.  With  the  Butte  mines  working  to  full  capacity, 
many  of  these  men  secure  employment,  either  temporary  or  perma- 
nent, while  those  failing,  leave  for  other  localities,  thus  gradually 
lessening  the  number  of  unemployed.  It  is  satisfactory  to  note 
that  the  situation  has  not  been  sufficiently  bad  to  warrant  the 
establishment  of  soup  houses,  and  in  nearly  all  cases,  the  men  have 
been  able  to  provide  for  themselves.  The  Salvation  Army  has 
established  relief  stations  throughout  the  city,  and  other  charitable 
organizations  have  done  their  part,  and  assisted  materially  in  fur- 
nishing help  in  extreme  cases.  Compared  with  the  large  number 
of  men  who  find  daily  employment  in  our  industries,  the  percentage 
of  those  now  subject  to  enforced  idleness  is  gratifyingly  small. 
With  approximately  16,000  men  working  for  daily  wages  in  Butte, 
even  the  2,000  unemployed  in  that  city  is  not  alarming;  while  re- 
membering that  there  are  at  least  2,500  wage  workers  in  Great 
Falls,  the  idleness  of  less  than  100  appears  infinitesimal. 

HARRY  J.  GOAS,  New  Jersey  Department  of  Labor:  I  desire 
frankly  to  confess  that  I  have  come  here  for  information,  with 
regard  to  possibly  establishing  a  permanent  state  employment  agency. 

Our  state  has  done  practically  very  little  in  the  way  of  helping 
unemployed  people,  particularly  at  this  season  of  the  year;  but  I 
assure  you  that  we  are  very  much  interested  in  the  problem.  Our 
commissioner  is  unfortunately  absent,  but  he  is  very  much  interested 
in  the  establishment  of  a  proposed  central  system  of  offices  to  take 
care  of  this  problem  of  unemployment.  He  has  had  the  question 
under  consideration  for  a  long  time. 

There  are  one  or  two  things  I  thought  of  bringing  to  your  attention 
for  what  they  are  worth :  In  the  city  of  Newark  quite  a  large  body 
of  unemployed  working  men  made  a  stampede,  demanding  employ- 
ment, and  the  condition  seemed  to  be  so  utterly  desperate  that  they 
were  almost  prepared  to  do  some  damage  to  property.  What  was 
our  surprise  to  find,  a  very  few  days  afterward,  when  a  new  street 
was  being  opened,  that  instead  of  a  large  army  of  men  applying  for 
the  work,  at  fair  wages,  there  were  only  about  half  of  the  number. 
In  other  words,  I  frankly  believe  that  this  question  of  unemployment 


240  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

has  been  to  some  extent  overestimated.  In  going  around  to  the 
various  shops  in  New  Jersey,  I  have  made  it  a  point  to  inquire 
whether  the  conditions  have  been  unusual,  and  I  find,  to  my  satis- 
faction, at  least,  that  there  are  constantly  recurring  times  of  unem- 
ployment in  all  lines  of  business,  in  the  largest  enterprises  as  well 
as  in  the  smaller  enterprises.  I  think  you  will  find  that  characteristic 
in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

But  that  does  not  solve  the  problem.  The  question  is  to  relieve 
that  ever-recurring  condition  as  much  as  possible,  and  that  is  our 
purpose  in  New  Jersey.  In  connection  with  that  I  may  mention 
that  the  commission  on  immigration  made  its  report  this  past  week 
to  Governor  Fielder.  The  commission  was  looking  up  some  of  the 
abuses  that  had  crept  into  the  private  employment  agencies,  the1 
padrone  system  and  other  questions  connected  with  the  incoming 
immigrants,  and  among  other  things  they  call  attention  to  two 
features  that  I  think  are  very  apropos.  One  is  that  the  private 
agency  law  should  be  enforced,  and  free  employment  bureaus  with 
special  provisions  for  immigrants  should  be  opened.  At  the  present 
time  there  is  a  deplorable  lack  of  information  as  to  where  work  is 
in  the  United  States.  Where  are  these  people  to  go  to  find  out  where 
work  can  be  obtained?  That  applies  only  to  one  class — the  immi- 
grants entering  the  United  States. 

The  second  recommendation  is  that  the  government  should  furnish 
information  about  agricultural  opportunities,  describing  the  land, 
the  condition  of  the  soil,  its  nature,  etc.  This  will  turn  many  con- 
sumers into  producers  for  the  New  York  market.  The  intention 
of  the  average  immigrant  on  landing  seems  to  be  to  go  to  some  shop 
or  factory,  and  this  makes  the  problem  very  acute. 

H.  H.  WHEATON,  New  York  Board  of  Industries  and  Immigration: 
For  some  months  I  have  had  many  applications  made  to  me  for 
positions,  principally,  of  course,  by  aliens,  and  we  have  been  put 
immediately  against  the  problem  of  securing  positions  for  these 
applicants.  But  in  very  few  instances  have  we  been  able  to  place 
these  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Buffalo.  About  four  months  ago  our 
labor  situation  was  so  tied  up,  with  our  steel  industries  and  foundries 
in  the  vicinity  of  Buffalo,  that  I  will  refer  to  this  as  an  instance. 

Our  largest  steel  industry,  which  ordinarily  employs  about  5,000 
or  6,000  men,  discharged  all  but  about  1,000  or  1,200.  Since  that 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  241 

time  it  has  increased  its  force  to  about  35  per  cent  or  40  per  cent 
of  the  original  number  employed.  Most  of  the  men  employed  in  this 
plant  are  aliens,  Poles,  Russians  and  other  men  of  the  Slavic  races. 
One  plant  for  several  months  has  been  running  two  to  three  days 
a  week,  just  enough  to  carry  its  regular  force  along  so  as  to  give 
them  some  employment  and  some  income.  I  called  up  the  manager 
of  a  metal  ware  specialty  plant  and  asked  him  how  many  he  had 
employed  at  the  present  time,  and  he  was  absolutely  unwilling  to 
state.  He  said  that  he  did  not  want  to  commit  himself,  that  it  was 
bad  enough  and  that  he  did  not  want  to  give  any  figures,  for  fear 
of  giving  an  erroneous  impression  about  their  business.  Such,  I 
believe,  is  the  general  attitude  of  the  employers  at  the  present  time. 
They  fear  if  they  give  out  the  exact  figures  of  the  number  of  men 
employed  they  will  lose  business  prestige.  So  that  all  of  the  reports 
of  employment  which  we  got  from  employers  in  the  vicinity  of  Buf- 
falo are  somewhat  magnified.  I  am  beginning  to  think  they  are 
employing  a  far  less  number  than  they  claim  to  employ  at  the 
present  time. 

Then  I  canvassed  another  phase  of  the  situation.  I  took  up  this 
matter  with  the  Charity  Organization  Society  and  asked  them  for 
their  figures.  Of  course  they  touch  only  families  and  homeless  men, 
but  particularly  families.  They  said  that  out  of  all  the  families  they 
were  providing  provisions  for  or  assisting  in  other  ways,  a  large 
number  contained  able-bodied  men  willing  to  work.  They  declared 
that  whereas  last  year  they  treated  something  like  125  to  130 
families  in  which  there  were  able-bodied  men  willing  to  work,  at  the 
present  time  they  are  carrying  along  300  or  400  such  families, 
an  enormous  increase  over  those  they  have  carried  along  in 
previous  years.  They  brought  to  my  attention  one  interesting 
fact,  and  that  is  that  the  families  they  are  caring  for  now  are  largely 
American,  the  Germans  coming  second,  and  English,  Scotch  and 
Irish  coming  third.  The  other  alien  families  were  in  the  minority, 
and  have  not  applied  so  generally  for  assistance.  It  seems,  therefore, 
that  the  oldest  established  population,  as  one  might  say,  has  been 
struck  the  hardest,  and  that  they  are  applying  for  charity  now  more 
generally  than  the  aliens— at  least  in  Buffalo.  The  Charity  Organi- 
zation Society  gives  the  figures  of  men  out  of  employment  at  the 
present  time  as  something  like  10,000  in  the  city  of  Buffalo  alone. 
Labor  unions  and  those  directly  connected  with  the  labor  union 


242  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

interests  state  that  the  number  will  reach  about  15,000  or  16,000  in 
Buffalo,  whereas  I  have  it  from  the  Buffalo  Local  Aid  Bureau,  which 
touches  the  problem  from  another  angle,  that  there  are  at  least 
20,000  to  25,000  men  out  of  employment  in  that  city.  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  the  labor  unions'  estimate  is  perhaps  the  better  and 
more  conservative. 

As  to  what  we  are  doing  in  Buffalo,  I  may  say  there  is  some  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  Erie  county  lodging  house  to  place  men  in  posi- 
tions. It  runs  a  kind  of  public  employment  agency,  but  not  on  any 
scientific  or  well  worked  out  basis,  because  it  has  not  the  equipment, 
the  funds,  or  the  men  to  carry  out  the  work  efficiently.  The  city 
has  no  employment  officer  and  the  Charity  Organization  Society 
endeavors  to  place  only  the  able-bodied  men  who  are  in  the  families 
it  is  caring  for.  So  that  we  have  no  scientific  or  definite  organized 
plan  of  handling  our  unemployed  in  Buffalo  and  vicinity.  There  is 
one  attempt  in  East  Buffalo,  the  Polish  section,  to  build  up  a  public 
employment  exchange,  and  they  are  setting  out  now  to  raise  a  fund 
of  $15,000  to  carry  on  this  work.  But  outside  of  these  two  or  three 
features  we  have  no  definite  or  organized  effort  to  reach  our  un- 
employment situation. 

I  want  to  say  one  thing  in  closing,  and  that  is  that  it  seems  to  me 
we  shall  never  be  able  actually  to  solve  this  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment until  we  are  able  to  reach  and  organize  our  industries  upon  a 
better  basis.  I  conceive  that  the  problem  of  labor  depends  for  its 
solution  upon  the  solution  of  the  greater  problem  of  organizing  our 
industries  on  a  better  basis.  You  may  have  public  employment  of- 
fices, you  may  have  private  employment  offices,  you  may  have  a 
fairly  well  organized  labor  market;  but  until  you  have  a  more 
stable  industrial  condition  you  will  never  be  able  really  to  solve 
the  question.  Labor  depends  for  its  subsistence  upon  industry,  and 
until  we  have  taught  industry  how  to  conduct  itself,  and  to  see  to 
it  that  it  does  not  employ  10,000  men  one  season  and  2,000  the  next, 
over-produce  at  one  time,  and  under-produce  at  another,  you  will 
never  be  able  to  solve  scientifically  this  unemployment  phase  of  the 
situation. 

FRED  C.  CROXTON,  President,  American  Association  of  Public 
Employment  Officials,  Ohio:  We  have  very  few  actual  figures  in 
Ohio  showing  the  conditions  of  unemployment.  Probably  the  most 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  243 

significant  figures  are  those  secured  from  our  public  employment 
officers.  In  January,  1914,  16  per  cent  of  the  applicants  were  sent 
to  positions ;  one  year  ago  37  per  cent  of  the  applicants  were  sent  to 
positions.  Speaking  for  the  American  Association  of  Public  Em- 
ployment Officials,  the  particular  object  of  that  association  is  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  public  employment  offices.  One  of  the 
methods  by  which  we  hope  to  increase  that  efficiency  is  to  secure 
some  uniform  system  of  making  and  keeping  records,  so  that  when 
figures  are  given  they  will  mean  exactly  what  they  are  intended  to 
mean. 

MARIE  D'EQUi,  Portland,  Oregon,  Unemployment  League:  In 
November  of  last  year  there  were  10,000  or  more  unemployed  in  the 
city  of  Portland.  When  an  effort  was  made  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  city  and  county  authorities  to  the  problem  they  got  together 
and  thought  the  best  way  to  deal  with  it  was  with  a  wooden  club. 
They  thought  the  unemployed  should  be  driven  out  of  the  city  of 
Portland. 

The  unemployed  then  visited  the  different  labor  organizations  and 
asked  that  delegates  be  sent  to  a  mass  meeting  which  was  to  be 
held  on  the  first  Sunday  in  December.  Notices  were  inserted  in  the 
papers,  and  although  it  was  a  rainy,  miserable  day,  there  was  an 
immense  gathering.  It  was  right  before  Christmas  and  all  the  charity 
places  were  filled,  some  having  to  stand  up  all  the  night  through.  In 
a  store  that  would  accomodate  only  about  fifty  people  there  were 
185  sleeping  on  the  floor  at  a  time,  and  the  basement  was  packed. 
No  relief  could  be  procured  from  either  the  city  or  the  county. 
It  seemed  impossible.  When  we  tried  to  get  state  relief  work  we 
were  hampered  because  we  had  a  Democratic  governor.  There  was 
an  effort  made  to  give  work  to  the  men  on  the  roads,  but  the  emer- 
gency board  got  together,  and  there  were  enough  Republicans  on 
the  board  to  stop  the  move,  so  that  fell  through. 

Of  course  the  papers  did  not  want  to  say  that  there  were  10,000 
unemployed  men  in  Oregon ;  it  doesn't  sound  good.  It  doesn't  sound 
good  to  say  that  there  are  300,000  unemployed  in  the  state  of  New 
York  either.  The  Portland  Chamber  of  Commerce  sends  out  litera- 
ture inviting  people  to  come  out  there  to  settle;  but  when  there  is 
unemployment  the  fact  must  not  get  out;  it  is  bad  for  a  new 
country,  and  it  is  bad,  too,  for  an  old  country,  like  New  York. 


244  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Last  year  we  had  a  little  strike  in  Portland,  and  there  was  an 
immense  turmoil,  as  they  are  against  organized  labor  in  Oregon.  A 
very  bad  feeling  had  been  engendered  during  the  summer  months. 
There  had  also  been  the  free-speech  fight,  so-called,  and  a  parade 
started  out  on  a  rainy  Sunday.  They  didn't  ask  permission  from 
the  mayor,  and  it  was  a  different  parade  from  the  parade  of  the 
little  tannery  girls — there  were  8,000  unemployed,  hungry  men,  who 
meant  business,  and  said  they  meant  business.  They  were  hungry, 
they  asked  for  work,  and  they  said  they  were  going  to  get  food,  and 
they  rushed  the  restaurants,  and  when  they  were  arrested — what 
could  be  done?  The  jails  were  not  large  enough  to  hold  8,000 
unemployed  men. 

We  have  what  is  called  the  Gipsy  Smith  Tabernacle.  The  state 
pays  $75  a  month  toward  that  tabernacle.  They  had  no  use  for  this 
building;  they  never  could  rent  it,  and  they  never  made  a  dollar  on 
the  investment.  We  have  a  commission  form  of  government  now, 
presumably  made  up  of  business  men,  and  still  this  investment  would 
not  pan  out.  And  so  we  asked  that  the  Gipsy  Smith  Tabernacle  be 
given  over  to  the  unemployed,  and  we  had  to  fight  until  long  after 
November  before  we  could  get  these  premises,  and  then  we  did  not 
get  them  until  five  men  lay  dead  in  the  morgue  at  one  time.  That 
was  too  much  to  be  told  on  the  streets  of  Portland,  so  they  opened 
the  tabernacle. 

Every  time  you  ask  for  something  you  are  an  I.  W.  W.  I  call  the 
I.  W.  W.'s  the  muck-rakers  of  the  world ;  they  are  not  afraid  to  get 
up  and  tell  of  a  thing  that  is  wrong  when  they  find  that  it  is  wrong. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  and  of  the  health  officers  to  tell  of  it — but 
the  I.  W.  W/s  tell  it.  I  want  to  say  right  here  that  I  am  a  radical 
Socialist. 

They  said  that  we  had  to  go  to  the  representatives  and  to  the 
wealthy  business  men  to  get  work  for  the  unemployed,  that  the 
men  did  not  know  how  to  get  work  for  themselves.  Well,  we  tried 
this  too,  but  the  men  are  still  out  of  work.  Of  course  a  good  many 
of  the  lumber  camps  were  closed  down  because  of  the  new  currency 
law. 

After  a  time  the  state  and  county  officials  said  that  we  could  not 
have  all  these  men  congregate  in  Portland,  and  therefore  the  young 
men  started  in  armies  of  100  to  go  out  of  Portland  and  leave  the 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  345 

field  open  for  the  older  men.  They  found  when  they  got  to  certain 
towns,  like  Albany,  for  instance,  they  were  given  their  breakfast  and 
then  the  firehose  was  turned  on  them.  And  they  sent  for  me.  I 
went  down,  and  I  changed  the  psychology  of  the  towns  toward  the 
unemployed.  I  was  arrested  five  times,  but  I  didn't  mind.  In  the 
big  towns  I  am  not  noted,  I  am  notorious.  In  the  little  towns  I  am 
noted,  because  I  am  the  friend  of  the  workman.  While  I  was  down 
in  the  country  the  men  were  driven  out  of  the  tabernacle,  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  to  be  vaccinated,  as  a  case  of  smallpox  had 
been  found.  So  when  I  got  back,  we  had  to  have  it  reopened.  Since 
then  we  have  had  less  crime  in  our  city,  and  less  vagrancy. 

I  have  heard  very  little  said  here  about  shortening  the  working 
day  and  the  working  week.  I  think  we  ought  to  get  down  to  business. 
I  think  your  hope  will  come  from  the  west,  because  we  will  shorten 
the  work  day  long  before  you  will,  and  we  will  emancipate  you. 

LEW  R.  PALMER,  Pennsylvania  Department  of  Labor  and  Industry: 
Pennsylvania  wishes  to  say  that  she  will  cooperate  very  heartily  in 
this  movement  against  unemployment,  and  we  welcome  the  oppor- 
tunity. We  are  a  new  department  and  we  are  busily  engaged  in 
organizing  it,  taking  up  some  of  the  more  elementary  steps  in  our 
organization. 

I  wjsh  to  say  that  I  agree  with  the  gentlemen  who  have  said  that 
the  work  of  conducting  public  employment  bureaus  belongs  with  the 
state  labor  departments ;  not  because  I  am  a  member  of  such  a  de- 
partment, but  because  through  our  business  training  I  believe  it  can 
be  more  efficiently  operated  if  handled  in  that  way.  I  also  believe 
that  it  should  be  effected  in  cooperation  with  the  federal  authorities. 

This  is  a  new  subject,  and  it  will  save  the  various  states  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  money  to  be  able  to  start  with  a  commonly  ac- 
cepted standard.  We  find  in  sending  out  our  present  blanks  that 
there  is  considerable  opposition  to  duplication  of  reports.  That 
can  be  avoided  by  carrying  on  your  work  through  the  existing  or- 
ganization. I  think  that  the  departments  of  agriculture  should  also 
be  consulted.  They  are  in  touch  with  the  farming  conditions.  The 
Industrial  Relations  Commission  also  would  welcome  the  work 
and  the  information  that  will  grow  out  of  this  organization. 

As  an  officer  and  director  of  the  National  Council  for  Industrial 


246  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Safety,  I  wish  to  say  that  if  we  can  keep  our  working  force  more 
constant  it  will  eliminate  many  accidents.  One  of  the  features  that 
increases  the  number  of  accidents  is  the  new-man  element.  If  a 
plant  is  connected  with  an  efficient  labor  exchange  there  will  not 
be  the  necessity  of  continually  getting  new  men  when  they  are 
needed,  but  the  men  will  be  experienced  in  the  work  of  the  plant, 
and  will  not  be  so  liable  to  injure  themselves  or  their  fellow 
workmen.  As  to  cooperation  with  the  municipal  organizations,  that 
is  essential,  and  will  add  to  the  efficiency  of  the  state  bureaus. 

WILLIAM  H.  FARLEY,  Superintendent,  Rhode  Island  Free  Employ- 
ment Office:  I  was  rather  surprised,  at  the  beginning  of  this  session 
to-day,  to  hear  so  many  men  and  women  speaking  of  the  conditions 
as  being  so  good;  but  the  last  few  speakers  have  changed  the 
situation. 

In  Rhode  Island  the  condition  is  worse  than  it  has  been  since 
1907.  We  have  in  Rhode  Island  the  manufacture  of  jewelry,  the 
most  expensive  and  the  cheapest,  I  guess,  manufactured  in  the  world. 
There  are  about  30  per  cent  of  the  total  employees  in  the  jewelry 
trade  working  to-day.  Seventy  per  cent  walk  the  streets  about  three- 
quarters  of  the  time.  In  the  metal  trades  50  per  cent  are  out  of 
work.  In  the  textile  industries  35  per  cent  are  out  of  work.  Still, 
we  think  we  have  not  seen  the  worst  of  it  yet.  In  Rhode  Island 
we  attribute  it  especially  to  the  change  in  the  tariff.  We  feel  and 
think  that  the  tariff  has  interfered  with  the  industries  of  Rhode 
Island  to  such  an  extent  that  the  state  will  be  hit  harder  than  it 
has  been  hit  yet.  r 

Now  we  understand  that  while  we  are  here  trying  to  advise 
ourselves  how  to  help  the  unemployment  situation  in  America  the 
capitalists  of  this  country  are  putting  the  most  up-to-date  American 
machinery  into  China.  I  do  not  see  how  Rhode  Island  will  be 
benefited  by  this.  We  are  a  fifty-four  hour  state  and  we  have  had 
a  pretty  hard  time  competing  with  other  states  that  have  sixty  and 
sixty-two  hours  in  their  working  week.  The  wages  in  Rhode  Island 
have  been  higher  than  those  they  have  been  competing  against  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  notwithstanding  the  shorter  hours.  So 
that  I  don't  look  at  this  thing  as  being  solved  in  the  near  future. 
I  think  we  are  going  to  get  it  good  and  hard  before  we  get  through 
with  it. 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  247 

I  think  that  the  government  should  establish  employment  offices 
at  all  ports  of  entry,  so  that  when  farmers  come  here,  instead  of 
letting  them  go  into  the  places  already  overcrowded,  they  could  be 
sent  out  to  parts  of  the  country  that  would  need  their  labor,  because 
when  you  send  a  lot  of  men  to  places  already  overcrowded,  it  has  a 
tendency  to  reduce  wages,  and  this  brings  about  hardship.  The  state 
legislatures  will  devote  an  enormous  amount  of  money  to  state 
prisons,  but  they  devote  a  very  small  amount  to  running  public 
employment  offices.  You  can  readily  understand  that  such  an 
office  cannot  amount  to  a  great  deal  unless  it  has  the  money  to  fight — 
to  fight  the  private  employment  office.  Men  who  have  not  studied 
the  question  do  not  know  for  a  minute  the  hardships  that  are  created 
and  the  injustice  that  is  done  by  the  private  employment  agencies. 
Unless  the  legislature  will  give  you  enough  money  to  run  it  right, 
I  would  advise  you  not  to  open  a  state  bureau. 

W.  L.  MITCHELL,  Tennessee  Commissioner  of  Workshop  and 
Factory  Inspection:  It  is  not  for  the  reason  that  Tennessee  is  con- 
fronted with  any  serious  problem  involving  the  unemployed,  but 
rather  as  a  delegate  from  the  International  Association  of  Shop  and 
Factory  Inspectors  that  I  am  with  you  on  this  occasion. 

We  are  endeavoring,  as  an  international  association,  to  solve  these 
problems  in  our  annual  conventions  and  this  of  course,  is  one  of  the 
serious  propositions  with  which  the  industries  of  our  country  are 
confronted.  I  feel  that  uniform  legislation  is  one  of  the  real  foun- 
dation principles  on  which  we  can  best  regulate  this  evil  and  establish 
a  remedy. 

The  amount  of  unemployment  is  affected  very  largely  by  the  con- 
dition of  the  industries.  There  is  another  factor,  however,  that 
has  not  yet  been  mentioned  this  morning.  In  the  last  analysis,  if  I 
may  be  permitted  to  express  a  personal  opinion,  the  shortening  of 
hours  by  legislation  is  one  of  the  real  basic  principles  on  which  to 
combat  this  unemployed  situation.  By  legislation  a  minimum  wage 
scale  has  been  established.  This  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  made 
uniform  by  state  legislation  throughout  the  continent,  and  should 
be  supplemented  by  an  eight-hour  day.  We  ought,  by  legislation  or 
otherwise,  to  compel  the  fellow  who  is  getting  the  major  portion 
to  kind  of  divide  up  a  little  bit. 


248  American  Labor  Legislation  Reinew 

H.  T.  HAINES,  Utah  Commissioner  of  Immigration,  Labor  and 
Statistics:  The  labor  situation  in  Utah  for  the  winter  of  1913-14 
may  be  said  to  be  slightly  under  but  near  normal.  Covering  a 
period  embracing  the  past  four  winters,  the  percentage  of  building 
mechanics  out  of  employment  during  the  past  winter,  may  be  said 
to  be  15  per  cent  greater.  The  unemployed  among  railroad  mechan- 
ics and  train  men  was  also  slightly  larger.  In  mining  and  other 
activities,  labor  conditions  were  about  normal,  likewise  in  railroad 
construction,  street,  canal  and  reservoir  work. 

No  extra  efforts  were  required  by  our  regular  charitable,  munici- 
pal or  state  agencies  to  care  for  the  unemployed.  About  the  same 
amount  of  relief  was  extended  by  the  regular  charitable  organiza- 
tions to  persons  out  of  employment  as  has  been  given  the  past  four 
years. 

GEORGE  G.  GROAT,  University  of  Vermont:  The  conditions  of 
unemployment  in  Vermont  are  not  very  acute.  The  population  is 
but  little  better  than  holding  its  own.  The  agricultural  and  manu- 
facturing output  shows  an  increase,  so  that,  for  that  reason  probably, 
the  situation  in  the  state  as  a  whole  is  not  very  serious.  The  state 
being  largely  agricultural  there  is,  as  is  true  in  most  agricultural 
sections,  rather  a  demand  for  labor  than  a  surplus,  particularly 
during  the  summer  seasons.  The  nature  of  the  industries,  however, 
has  changed  somewhat,  in  the  agricultural  states,  so  as,  to  a  certain 
extent,  to  standardize  those  industries  through  the  establishment  of 
creameries  and  dairies,  making  it  all-year-round  work. 

I  think  it  is  true  that  such  labor  as  the  state  needs  for  the  summer 
work  comes  to-day  from  the  southern  New  England  states  and 
from  New  York  state.  Such  other  added  labor  as  may  be  needed  in 
the  state  is  also  of  a  migratory  nature.  The  organization  of  agricul- 
tural activities  by  county  units  is  indicating  what  may  be  called 
social  welfare  work,  and  this  all  has  the  effect  of  checking  unem- 
ployment as  far  as  it  may  become  a  serious  problem. 

The  other  characteristic  industries  of  the  state  are  the  marble  and 
granite  industries.  In  connection  with  the  granite  industry  it  may 
be  said  that  the  workers  are  very  generally  organized,  and  are  able 
to  take  care  of  themselves.  The  activities  in  that  section  of  the 
state  are  unusually  good  for  this  time  of  year.  The  unemployment 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  249 

is  severe  only  at  times  when  the  cutting  of  the  granite  is  uneconomic. 
In  the  marble  section  the  employees  are  not  so  highly  organized,  but 
the  employment  is  more  under  the  control  of  the  benevolent  em- 
ployer, where  perhaps  everything  that  can  be  done  is  done  toward 
the  relief  of  any  unemployment. 

So  that,  taking  those  two  industries,  the  agricultural  and  the 
quarrying  industries,  the  situation  is  no  more  acute  than  at  any  other 
time,  and  the  method  for  meeting  this  is  the  same  as  has  been  used 
for  many  years,  namely,  the  work  of  charity  organizations  through 
the  town  units.  There  are  no  large  cities  in  the  state,  as  we  would 
speak  of  large  cities  outside.  The  largest  city  is  only  20,000,  and 
that  city  is  not  very  actively  industrial.  The  other  two  cities  that 
are  comparatively  large  are  Barre  and  Rutland,  and  they  are  the 
centers  of  the  granite  and  marble  industries,  and  the  conditions  are 
as  I  have  indicated. 

The  work  of  harvesting  the  ice  is  just  now  calling  for  more  labor 
than  we  can  procure.  The  fact  of  a  strike  that  lasted  a  little  over 
a  day  among  the  ice  cutters  a  day  or  two  ago  would  indicate  that 
the  employees  themselves  feel  quite  sure  that  their  services  are 
indispensable.  There  are  indications  that  the  situation  may  become 
more  serious,  and  for  that  reason  a  representative  has  been  sent, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  back  any  suggestions  that  may  develop  in 
the  conference  in  order  to  apply  them  to  the  situation  before  it  be- 
comes very  acute. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,  General  Secretary,  Associated  Charities,  Rich- 
mond, Virginia:  I  believe  we  always  ought  to  look  facts  squarely 
in  the  face.  We  are  probably  much  worse  off  in  Virginia  than  in 
some  of  the  other  states  here  represented.  We  have  the  problem 
of  unemployment  there,  and  as  I  look  upon  it  it  is  one  of  the  most 
grievous  problems  with  which  social  forces  have  to  contend.  We 
have  a  branch  of  the  American  Locomotive  Works,  that  usually 
employs  about  2,500  people ;  it  now  employs  only  a  few. 

It  is  always  almost  an  impossibility  to  approximate,  even  loosely, 
the  number  of  unemployed  in  the  state.  I  disburse  local  charities  in 
Richmond,  although  I  am  here  representing  the  state  of  Virginia. 
Our  women  nobly  come  to  the  rescue  and  hold  the  family  together 
when  many  of  the  wage-earners  are  unemployed.  Therefore  for  the 
casual  observer  it  is  impossible  to  find  out  what  the  actual  situation 


250  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

is.  However,  any  observer  knows  that  increase  of  the  labor  supply 
forces  out  the  least  efficient  help.  But  the  wives  and  children  of 
this  class  must  live,  "as  well  as  the  wives  and  children  of  the  more 
efficient  class. 

There  is  a  question  before  us  this  morning,  and  it  is,  Who  is 
responsible  for  the  care  of  the  man  who  has  a  wife  and  children 
dependent  upon  him,  when  he  is  out  of  a  job?  An  employment 
bureau  does  not  get  jobs,  and  the  practical  proposition  is  how  to  find 
jobs  for  the  men  who  are  looking  for  them  who  have  families  de- 
pendent upon  them.  Now,  how  are  we  going  to  get  at  that,  and  are 
the  city  and  the  state  responsible  ?  These  are  the  questions  that  are 
thundering  at  our  doors  for  a  proper  and  legitimate  answer.  Have 
we  a  share  in  the  responsibility?  Has  our  commonwealth  a  share 
in  the  responsibility?  Is  it  a  fundamental,  legitimate,  economic 
proposition  that  the  man  who  is  willing  to  work  ought  not  to  starve  ? 
That  is  a  question  that  our  civilization  must  face,  as  well  as  advocate 
the  other  aspect  of  the  same  principle,  that  the  man  who  will  not 
work  ought  not  to  eat.  This  is  a  two-sided  proposition.  Let  us  face 
squarely  the  responsibility  that  comes  to  us,  look  the  facts  squarely 
in  the  face,  and  see  if  there  will  be  a  solution  for  the  question. 

WILLIAM  M.  LEISERSON,  Wisconsin  Superintendent  of  Employ- 
ment Offices:  The  state  employment  offices  in  Wisconsin  reported 
in  January  of  this  year  250  applicants  for  every  100  jobs.  In  Janu- 
ary of  1913,  a  year  ago,  they  reported  107  applicants  for  every  100 
jobs.  That  represents  as 'close  as  we  can  get  to  the  situation  in  the 
state  of  Wisconsin.  We  found  it  not  only  inadvisable,  but  likely 
to  be  entirely  erroneous,  to  try  to  estimate  the  number  of  the  un- 
employed. You  can  see  from  the  various  estimates  that  were  given 
here  to-day  that  there  seems  to  be  no  basis  for  it.  But  when  you 
have  an  agency  established  that  works  from  year  to  year,  you  can, 
by  comparing  one  year  with  the  next,  get  at  some  idea  of  the  extent 
of  unemployment. 

The  people  of  Milwaukee,  which  is  our  largest  city,  do  not  think 
that  this  state  of  affairs — 250  applicants  for  every  100  jobs — is  a 
serious  enough  situation,  or  an  unusual  enough  situation,  to  take 
any  further  steps  in  regard  to  helping  the  unemployed.  One  reason 
for  that  is  that  they  know  that  out  of  every  100  jobs  that  are  avail- 
able during  any  year,  normal  or  abnormal,  many  must  go  unfilled 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  251 

for  a  large  number  of  reasons.  First,  the  people  who  fit  the  jobs 
are  not  there;  second,  many  of  the  applicants  are  unable  to  work, 
they  are  old,  or  they  are  sick;  third,  some  are  unwilling  to  work, 
and  there  is  a  large  number  of  these;  and  fourth,  there  is  a  large 
number  who  are  willing  and  able  to  work  only  three  or  four  days 
or  a  week  or  so  at  a  time.  They  cannot  stand  it  any  longer  than 
that  because  of  the  manner  of  life  which  they  have  been  leading. 
That  is  the  condition  you  find  in  normal  years,  and  we  have  a  large 
number  of  unemployed  people  of  that  kind  always  around.  And 
so  now,  when  we  have  two  and  one-half  times  as  many  unemployed 
as  we  have  jobs  for,  the  people  do  not  think  that  it  is  unusual 
enough  to  take  any  further  steps. 

In  Milwaukee,  through  the  cooperation  of  the  city  of  Milwaukee, 
the  county  of  Milwaukee  and  the  Wisconsin  Industrial  Commission, 
we  have  established  an  efficient  public  employment  office  that  can 
tell  absolutely,  or  almost  absolutely,  where  there  are  any  jobs  to 
be  had  in  the  city.  We  do  not  have  to  go  any  further  than  that 
now.  The  question  of  knowing  where  jobs  and  men  can  be  brought 
together  is  practically  solved  for  Milwaukee,  and  the  office  is  open 
to  the  people  of  that  city. 

So  when  the  public  employment  office  of  Milwaukee  gave  out  to 
the  community  the  statement  that  we  have  250  men  for  100  jobs, 
the  logical  thing  to  ask  was,  Can  not  the  city  do  some  work  now 
that  it  would  have  to  do  next  spring?  And  the  city  answered  that 
it  could  not  do  it  now.  Whether  it  shall  take  these  steps  or  not  is 
a  question  that  rests  with  the  people  of  the  city,-  but  the  step  to  be 
taken  is  indicated. 

The  point  has  been  raised  that  we  can  solve  the  problem  of  un- 
employment only  by  reorganizing  the  industries.  I  do  not  believe 
that  we  can  solve  the  problem  of  unemployment  for  many,  many 
years.  I  have  it  on  good  authority  that,  ages  ago,  Pericles  started 
all  his  public  works  to  give  work  to  the  unemployed.  They  had 
the  problem  even  at  that  time,  and  we  may  have  to  wait  as  many 
years  more  before  we  can  get  the  entire  problem  solved.  But  the 
point  is  that  we  ought  to  have  the  steps  ready  when  the  people  make 
up  their  minds  to  take  them.  In  representing  the  American  As- 
sociation of  Public  Employment  Officials,  I  should  like  to  bring  this 
message  here,  that  the  first  step  in  any  plan  of  dealing  with  unem- 
ployment is  to  register  the  unemployed ;  to  find  out  what  kind  they 
are,  and  then  to  gather  and  register  your  demands  for  help  for  the 


252  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

same  place,  to  find  out  how  much  work  actually  is  available.  Until 
you  do  that  it  is  absolutely  absurd  to  try  to  think  of  doing  anything 
on  the  question  of  unemployment.  Whatever  remedy  you  may 
bring  along,  you  have  to  do  that  first.  When  you  have  that  well 
organized  then  the  next  step  comes,  the  shaping  of  public  work. 
And  when  your  public  is  ready  to  take  up  that  question,  then  the 
question  of  insurance  against  unemployment  will  come  up.  But  you 
have  to  take  these  up  one  at  a  time,  because  it  takes  years  to  work 
out  each  remedy  adequately. 

Now  the  American  Association  of  Public  Employment  Officials 
wants  to  make  the  public  employment  offices  of  this  country,  of 
which  there  are  now  about  seventy,  efficiently  able  to  do  the  work 
for  which  they  were  established.  They  are  not  doing  that  work,  and 
there  is  no  use  talking  about  establishing  new  offices  unless  you 
put  those  already  created  on  an  efficient  basis. 

JORGE  BEREA  AYALA,  Committee  on  Social  Affairs,  Havana, 
Cuba:  [Address  in  Spanish.] 

DELEGATE  from  Newark,  New  Jersey:  I  happen  to  be  at  pres- 
ent the  representative  of  the  Newark  Municipal  Employment 
Bureau.  This  bureau  has  been  doing  excellent  work  for  the  past 
four  years.  In  Newark  we  have  not  300,000  people  unemployed, 
but  only  6,000,  but  we  have  an  acute  situation  of  about  1,500  more 
men  unemployed  than  we  had  last  year,  or  in  previous  years  before 
1907.  We  have  the  problem  of  immigration,  and  we  have  no  ade- 
quate system  of  distributing  immigrants.  They  assemble  in  Ho- 
boken,  in  Jersey  City  and  in  Newark,  and  that  adds  greatly  to  our 
problem. 

JAMES  M.  LYNCH,  New  York  Commissioner  of  Labor:  I  came 
here  rather  to  listen  than  to  say  anything  on  this  subject.  I  do  not 
care  to  hazard  a  guess  as  to  the  amount  of  unemployment  in  New 
York  state.  I  don't  believe  there  are  300,000  unemployed  in  New 
York  city,  and  I  doubt  if  there  are  300,000  unemployed  in  the  state. 
I  do  not  know  as  to  the  relative  amount  of  unemployment  at  this 
time,  but  I  agree  with  the  general  opinion  that  if  there  are  only 
3,000  unemployed  there  are  3,000  too  many  out  of  jobs. 

I  think  Dr.  Leiserson  has  contributed  some  very  valuable  sug- 
gestions to  the  conference.  I  have  had  this  proposal  up  with  the 
governor  of  the  state,  and  the  governor  expects  to  send  to  the 


Reports  of  Official  Delegates  253 

legislature  during  the  coming  session  a  special  message,  accompany- 
ing it,  if  possible,  with  a  draft  of  proposed  legislation,  imbuing  it 
with  some  of  his  ideas  and  some  of  the  best  thought  of  the  state. 
I  do  not  believe  this  conference  can  do  very  much  for  the  unem^ 
ployed  of  to-day,  but  it  can  do  considerable  for  the  unemployed 
of  a  year  from  to-day.  New  York  is  not  a  penurious  state,  and  if 
this  proposition  is  taken  up  by  the  state  I  feel  confident  that  it  will 
be  adequately  financed,  so  that  whatever  we  may  do  will  be  placed 
on  a  proper  footing. 

ALEXANDER  LAW,  International  Brotherhood  Welfare  Associa- 
tion: If  there  is  any  one  city  in  this  world  where  we  should  have 
no  unemployment,  that  certainly  is  the  city  you  are  meeting  in  to- 
day— New  York.  And  the  most  practical  solution  to  meet  unem- 
ployment that  occurs  to  me  just  now  is  to  put  the  entire  transporta- 
tion system  of  this  city  on  an  eight-hour  basis.  I  hold  in  my  hand 
clippings  from  the  papers  these  last  few  weeks,  containing  state- 
ments from  the  employees  of  our  public  service  corporations, 
especially  the  men  employed,  in  the  subway,  who  complain  that 
they  are  supposed  to  be  working  ten  hours,  and  yet  are  compelled 
to  work  from  ten  to  fourteen  hours  a  day.  I  have  it  on  the 
authority  of  the  editor  of  the  World,  that  New  York  city  owns  the 
subways.  If  New  York  city  owns  the  subways,  why  we,  the  citizens 
of  New  York,  own  those  subways,  and  if  there  is  anybody  who 
represents  the  city  of  New  York  it  certainly  ought  to  be  the  mayor 
of  the  city  who  opened  this  conference,  and  the  public  officials  of 
this  city ;  and  I  am  pretty  certain  that  I  voice  the  sentiment  of  nine- 
tenths  of  the  citizens  when  I  say  that  the  entire  transportation 
system  of  this  city  should  be  put  on  an  eight-hour  basis,  especially 
the  subways.  Not  only  the  health  of  the  employees  demands  this, 
but  the  safety  of  the  traveling  public  demands  it.  The  talk  about 
farm  work  here  to-day  reminds  me  of  something  I  once  read  about 
the  boy  and  the  cow.  The  boy  fed  it  and  he  cared  for  it,  but  some- 
body else  milked  it!  And  that  is  the  position  we  are  in  to-day,  as 
far  as  our  subways  are  concerned.  Untold  profits  are  being  taken 
by  the  handful  of  men  who  control  our  subways.  If  there  is  any 
one  thing  we  ought  to  go  on  record  as  doing,  it  is  to  serve  notice  that 
we  insist  that  these  subways,  and  the  rest  of  the  transportation  of 
this  city,  be  put  on  the  eight-hour  basis.  That  will  furnish  employ- 
ment for  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  present  force  of  unemployed 


254  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

men.  I  hope  that  some  of  you  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are 
strangers  here  will  make  it  a  point  to  walk  about  a  mile  to  the 
north  and  east  and  take  a  look  at  the  tenements  of  this  city.  It  is 
a  disgrace  to  the  civilized  world  and  to  the  citizens  of  the  state 
that  we  should  stand  for  the  tenement  system  of  the  city  to-day. 
There  are  8,000  vacant  lots  on  Long  Island,  and  two-thirds  of  the 
area  is  as  innocent  of  any  builing  as  years  ago  when  Hendrick 
Hudson  discovered  the  Hudson.  And  why?  Because  the  specu- 
lators have  it. 

I  will  just  close  with  saying  that  as  long  as  we  will  stand  for 
private  property  in  land,  it  is  only  a  humbug  to  have  these  confer- 
ences and  think  you  are  going  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  unem- 
ployed. Unless  you  change  all  that,  make  up  your  minds  that  the 
unemployed,  like  the  poor,  will  always  be  with  us. 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER  :  In  summing  up  the  discussion  of  this  morn- 
ing, the  points  that  have  impressed  themselves  upon  me  are,  first, 
the  general  impression  that  the  extent  of  unemployment  this  winter 
has  been  exaggerated;  I  am  sure  we  are  all  very  glad  if  that  is 
the  case.  I  am  sure  we  all  agree,  however,  that  if  there  is  any 
matter  in  connection  with  which  the  stirring  up  of  the  public  is 
justified,  it  is  this  problem  of  unemployment.  If  it  has  been  exag- 
gerated, it  is  not  in  the  sense  that  there  has  not  been  widespread 
unemployment,  but  solely  in  the  sense  that  widespread  unemploy- 
ment is  a  usual  and  regularly  recurring  phenomenon. 

The  second  point  is  the  vital  importance  in  any  constructive  pro- 
gram of  reformation  of  public  employment  bureaus,  that  they  will 
register  completely  the  information  gained.  I  think  we  were  all 
impressed  by  Mr.  Leiserson's  insistence  on  this  point. 

The  third  point,  and  the  point  which  we  will  make  the  topic  of 
this  afternoon's  discussion,  is  the  fact  that  unemployment  is  an 
industrial  problem,  that  it  reflects  the  chaotic,  unorganized  way  in 
which  industries  are  now  carried  on.  To  some  extent,  unfortu- 
nately, it  is  really  to  the  advantage  of  employers  that  there  should 
be  unemployment,  for  under  those  conditions  they  can  select  their 
employees  more  carefully  and  improve  their  labor  force,  and  they 
are  also,  under  those  conditions,  less  liable  to  encounter  labor  dis- 
putes. That  aspect,  and  the  need  it  points  out  of  trying  to  regular- 
ize employment  on  the  industrial  side,  is  the  one  we  will  consider 
chiefly  this  afternoon. 


II 

PUBLIC  RESPONSIBILITY 


Presiding  Officer:  HENRY  R.  SEAGER 

President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


PUBLIC  RESPONSIBILITY 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER  :  The  topic  we  are  to  turn  to  this  afternoon 
is  that  of  the  irregularity  of  employment  in  normal  times,  and 
particularly  the  industrial  causes  of  this  irregularity,  and  the  things 
which  may  be  done  with  our  industries  to  regularize  them. 

WALTER  M.  LOWNEY,  Director,  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce: 
I  think  we  want  to  take  up  this  matter  coolly,  sensibly.  I  do  not 
think  we  want  to  go  into  hysterics  over  the  matter,  as  that  will  not 
accomplish  anything.  Let  us  try  to  find  out  what  the  conditions 
really  are,  and  then  try  to  find  a  remedy. 

In  Massachusetts  we  have  the  textile  industry;  that  runs  pretty 
nearly  uniformly  all  the  year  around,  as  far  as  the  employment  of 
labor  is  concerned.  The  second  largest  industry  in  Massachusetts 
is  the  shoe  manufacturing  industry.  That  is  a  seasonal  industry. 
There  are  some  shoe  manufacturers,  who  make  particular  lines, 
who  may  work  practically  the  year  around,  but  as  a  rule  the  shoe 
manufacturers  have  two  dull  seasons  and  two  busy  seasons  a  year. 
The  shoe  employees,  especially  the  women,  earn  large  wages  when 
they  work.  I  know  for  a  fact  that  many  girls  and  women  have  left 
a  regular  employment  and  gone  into  the  shoe  industry,  where  they 
received  a  higher  rate  of  wages  for  a  shorter  number  of  weeks, 
because  they  preferred  to  work  part  of  the  time  and  earn  in  the 
aggregate  for  the  year  substantially  as  much  money. 

The  gentleman  from  Rhode  Island  referred  this  morning  to  the 
number  of  unemployed  jewelry  employees  in  his  state.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  that  statement  was  absolutely  true;  but  the  jewelry  busi- 
ness is  one  that  has  seasons.  It  has  as  a  rule  two  busy  and  two 
dull  seasons,  the  same  as  the  shoe  business.  The  skilled  male 
jewelry  employees  earn,  as  a  rule,  very  large  wages  when  they 
work,  so  that  they,  if  they  are  not  employed  for  a  month  or  two  or 
three,  are  not  necessarily  public  charges.  They  have  money 
to  live  on  during  that  dull  period.  I  presume  that  the  unskilled  em- 
ployees, perhaps  some  of  the  female  employees,  packers,  etc.,  might 
find  it  a  hardship  to  lie  off.  But  one  of  the  dull  periods  in  the 
jewelry  industry  is  through  the  months  of  December  and  January. 
In  Boston  we  had  some  very  heavy  snow  storms,  and  our  street 


258  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

department  and  the  elevated  railway  company  employed  a  great 
number  of  extra  hands  to  cart  snow.  I  do  not  remember  what  the 
wages  were,  but  we  had,  I  understand,  several  strikes.  The  men. 
insisted  on  having  a  full  day  or  they  would  not  work.  That  would 
indicate  to  me  that  there  certainly  were  not  so  many  unemployed 
men  in  Boston. 

Of  the  industries  that  I  am  especially  familiar  with,  one,  the 
chocolate  manufacturing  industry,  which  is  quite  a  large  one,  works 
practically  uniformly  all  the  year  around.  I  think  that  statement 
would  apply  to  all  similar  factories  in  the  country.  I  am  also  in- 
terested in  a  confectionery  manufactory,  in  which  we  employ  in 
our  Boston  plant  about  2,000,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  are  women. 
In  that  industry  we  average  about  50  per  cent  more  employees  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  year,  from  August  on.  Naturally  we  keep, 
the  year  around,  the  better  class  of  employee.  The  shoe  industry 
has  taken  very  many  women  and  girls  who  were  formerly  in  the 
confectionery  industry.  Many  whom  I  know  of  are  receiving  not 
more  money  than  they  did  with  us,  but  they  get  as  much  by  work- 
ing for  a  smaller  number  of  weeks.  They  seem  to  prefer  to  loaf 
part  of  the  time. 

Perhaps  you  are  not  aware  that  Massachusetts  has  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  the  only  state  in  the  union  which  has  an  election  and 
a  session  of  the  legislature  every  year.  The  result  is  that  we  have 
about  six  or  seven  months  of  law-making  every  year.  You  can 
imagine  what  we  manufacturers  are  up  against.  One  of  the  laws 
that  was  foisted  upon  us  last  year  was  that  no  minor  under  the  age 
of  sixteen  years  should  be  employed  over  a  certain  number  of  hours 
a  day.  It  was  a  shorter  number  of  hours  than  our  regular  local 
schedule  for  women  and  minors.  The  result  of  that  has  been,  as 
far  as  I  can  judge,  that  very  many  of  the  girls  over  fourteen  and 
not  yet  sixteen  who  formerly  were  employed,  are  now  walking  the 
streets.  Many  of  these  girls  are  foreigners,  who  are  women  at 
fourteen;  they  will  not  go  to  school;  that  law  enforced  simply 
means  that  so  many  more  of  these  women  are  on  the  street. 

We  have  before  us  now  in  Massachusetts  a  minimum  wage 
proposition.  The  manufacturers  of  Massachusetts  I  think  will  prac- 
tically all  agree  that  a  reasonable  minimum  wage  would  not  per- 
haps be  objectionable.  But  what  I  personally  should  be  afraid  of 
is  that  unless  it  is  very  carefully  adjusted,  that  is,  if  the  minimum 


Public  Responsibility  259 

wage  is  made  too  high,  it  will  operate  directly  against  the  unskilled 
workers.  That,  I  think,  is  a  great  danger.  I  mention  the  matter 
of  minimum  wage,  and  of  the  sixteen-year  law,  because  I  think 
those  things  have  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  question  of  irregular 
employment.  In  our  factory,  for  instance,  we  have  very  many  girls 
and  women  who  earn  $12  to  $20  per  week.  Our  scale  of  wages 
runs  all  the  way  from  $4.50  up,  but  the  cheapest  employee  we  have 
is  the  one  who  earns  $20 — that  goes  without  saying.  If  a  minimum 
wage  were  established  in  our  industry  of  even  $6,  we  should  have 
to  stop  running  a  training  school  at  our  own  expense,  as  we  have 
been  doing  for  years,  paying  the  apprentice  $4.50  a  week  from  the 
start.  We  could  not  afford  the  expense.  We  figure  that  it  costs 
us,  starting  at  $4.50  a  week,  from  $40  to  $70  for  every  new  hancl 
we  take  on,  before  they  get  to  be  chocolate  dippers.  We  should  be 
obliged  to  stop  this  practice  if  a  minimum  wage  were  established 
at  even  $6,  unless  we  could  get  the  girls  to  come  in  and  give  us  their 
time  for  nothing  ifor  two  or  three  or  four  weeks,  while  they  were 
learning. 

QUERY:  Will  you  kindly  inform  me,  Mr.  Lowney,  what  did 
these  girls  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  to  whom  you  re- 
ferred do?  At  what  were  they  employed? 

MR.  LOWNEY  :  Under  the  state  laws,  they  were  employed  in  any 
and  all  industries. 

QUERY:  May  I  further  ask,  how  were  these  positions  filled, 
after  the  girls  were  thrown  out? 

MR.  LOWNEY  :  Well,  in  our  case,  we  did  not  discharge  the  girls 
we  had  at  that  time  under  sixteen.  But  we  did  arrange  a  definite 
scale  of  shorter  working  hours,  and  decided  not  to  hire  any  more 
girls  under  sixteen,  so  that  after  a  certain  time  we  would  employ 
none  under  sixteen. 

QUERY  :  I  took  it  from  your  statement  that  the  people  who  were 
discharged  were  walking  the  streets? 

MR.  LOWNEY  :  I  did  not  intend  to  say  that  they  were  necessarily 
discharged;  they  would  not  be  taken  on. 

QUERY  :  Have  you  a  compulsory  educational  law  in  Massachus- 
etts? 

MR.  LOWNEY:    Yes,  we  have. 

QUERY:    Have  you  a  truancy  law? 

MR.  LOWNEY  :  That  is  one  of  the  very  many  laws  which  are  not 
properly  enforced. 


260  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

ROBERT  R.  P.  BRADFORD,  The  Lighthouse,  Philadelphia:  We  have 
thousands  of  people  continually  out  of  work  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
at  the  time  when  United  States  senators  are  elected  we  generally 
have  more.  We  have  just  that  much  additional  unemployed  labor 
to-day,  if  not  more. 

Coming  down  to  Philadelphia,  where  I  am  particularly  interested, 
the  conditions  are  about  the  same  as  usual  'for  this  time  of  year. 
Our  lace  mills,  the  Cramps'  shipyard  and  other  shops  are  working 
on  almost  full  time.  The  steel  works  and  the  Baldwin  locomotive 
works  are  running.  These  are  our  great  industries.  Still  the 
rescue  missions  of  Philadelphia  have  been  kept  busy  looking  after 
the  unemployed.  We  have  come  in  contact  with  this  situation  for 
some  twenty  years,  of  our  own  experience.  Those  who  have  had 
experience  with  working  people  know  how  constantly  it  is  before 
us.  It  is  getting  worse.  We  went  through  the  time  of  1903,  when 
we  spent  some  $3,000  helping  the  men  with  families  to  live.  In 
1907  and  1908,  when  we  had  another  panic,  we  did  the  same  thing. 
We  have  a  constantly  increasing  tide  of  immigration  which  we 
catch  in  Philadelphia,  and  which  you  must  catch  here,  which  is 
constantly  displacing  our  labor  that  is  already  situated  and  could 
get  along,  but  that  is  being  pushed  out  by  the  incoming  tide. 

We  have  a  great  many  industrial  accidents  in  our  neighborhood ; 
in  our  state  some  thousands  every  year  are  maimed  from  among 
the  employed.  We  have  a  great  number  of  occupational  disease 
cases,  and  the  great  army  of  the  unemployed  is  being  fed  constantly 
by  the  maimed  and  the  diseased.  We  have  also  those  who  have 
no  ability,  no  capacity,  no  training  for  work.  Moreover,  the  com- 
munity is  allowing  a  great  class  of  people  to  grow  up  without  the 
ability  to  work.  They,  too,  join  the  army  of  the  unemployed.  But 
the  serious  thing  about  this,  that  you  and  I  need  to  address  our- 
selves to,  is  the  growing  sentiment  among  the  working  people  that 
this  thing  cannot  be  endured,  and  that  unless  the  intelligent  people 
of  this  country,  and  especially  the  government,  which  is  our  agent, 
find  some  way  to  enable  the  honest  man  to  marry  and  raise  a  family 
decently,  as  a  return  for  his  labor,  then  labor  itself  will  find  the 
way.  Those  of  us  who  are  coming  in  contact  with  the  working 
people  know  that  this  thing  is  pressing  on  them  and  is  fast  pro- 
ducing a  situation  of  desperation,  and  we  must  find  some  way  out 
of  it.  We  must  change  our  standards  of  personal  rights,  if  neces- 


.    Public  Responsibility  261 

sary.    We  must  change  anything  and  everything.    Nothing  should 
be  sacred  behind  which  this  condition  of  things  can  hide. 

JOHN  MITCHELL,  United  Mine  Workers  of  America:  It  goes 
without  saying  that  unemployment  is  a  problem  in  which  all  rep- 
resentative working  men  are  keenly  interested.  Unemployment  in 
the  coal  industries  does  not  affect  the  individual  as  seriously  as  it 
does  in  many  other  branches  of  private  industry.  The  coal  mines  of 
the  United  States,  even  in  prosperous  periods,  operate  approxi- 
mately only  two-thirds  of  the  time. 

In  the  anthracite  coal  fields  the  employers  have  so  adjusted  the 
operation  of  their  mines  that  the  work  is  distributed  about  evenly 
during  all  the  months  and  weeks  of  the  year.  All  of  you  who  live 
in  New  York  city  and  consume  anthracite  coal  know  that  you  can 
buy  it  in  April  fifty  cents  a  ton  cheaper  than  in  November.  That  is 
to  say,  the  mine  owners  use  the  coal  sheds  and  basements  of  the 
consumers  for  store-houses,  and  by  so  doing  regulate  the  sale  of 
coal  so  that  you  buy  it  cheapest  at  that  season  of  the  year  when  it 
is  least  used. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  motive  of  the  anthracite  coal 
mine  owners,  the  system  they  have  introduced  has  been  of  great 
value  to  the  men  who  work  in  the  mines,  because  the  production 
and  sale  of  anthracite  coal  is  distributed  about  evenly  throughout 
the  year. 

In  the  bituminous  coal  fields,  however,  which  employ  some 
550,000  men,  the  atmospheric  effects  upon  bituminous  coal  are  such 
that  for  domestic  purposes  the  coal  must  be  consumed  shortly  after 
it  comes  from  the  mines,  and  the  consequence  is  that  bituminous 
miners  work  sometimes  quite  steadily  in  the  winter  months,  and  are 
idle  a  large  part  of  the  time  in  the  summer  months.  However,  it 
may  be  interesting  to  state  that  the  coal  miners  of  the  United  States 
are  so  thoroughly  organized  that  they  are  able  to  take  care  of  their 
own  men  without  calling  for  assistance  from  outside  sources.  When 
a  mine  is  closed  down  in  one  community,  if  there  be  another  mine 
in  that  community  the  men  frequently  divide  their  work.  That  is, 
the  men  employed  in  one  mine  will  voluntarily  remain  at  home  and 
permit  the  men  from  the  mine  that  closed  down  to  work  in  their 
places.  It  seems  to  me  that  that  system  might  be  applied  in  other 
industries.  Of  course  it  requires  a  pretty  high  form  of  idealism  for 


262  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

men  voluntarily  to  give  up  their  jobs  in  order  that  their  fellow 
men  may  have  a  chance  to  work. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  problem  of  unemployment  is  one  that 
deserves  the  attention  of  our  state  and  federal  governments.  Un- 
der a  truly  humane  order  of  society  there  could  be  no  unemploy- 
ment in  the  sense  of  able-bodied  men  who  desire  to  work  being 
without  work.  There  is  an  old  saying  that  the  world  owes  every 
man  a  living.  I  am  not  prepared  to  subscribe  to  that  general  state- 
ment. I  do  not  believe  that  the  world  owes  any  man  a  living,  but 
I  do  believe  that  society  owes  to  every  one  of  its  people  the  op- 
portunity to  earn  a  living  under  fair  and  reasonable  conditions. 
And  I  believe  that  this  conference  may  outline  some  plan  that  may 
lead  to  a  systematic  study  of  unemployment,  and  may  eventually 
lead  to  the  adoption  of  such  measures  by  our  state  and  federal 
governments  as  will  in  the  future  at  least  mitigate  the  sufferings 
that  come  from  unemployment.  I  cannot  conceive  of  any  spectacle 
so  sad  as  that  of  an  able-bodied  man  having  depending  upon  him  a 
wife  and  children,  searching  here  and  there  and  everywhere  for 
an  opportunity  to  work.  We  should  see  to  it  that  something  is 
done  that  will  reduce  the  oversupply  at  all  periods  of  the  year  in 
our  seasonal  labor.  It  has  already  been  found  by  a  federal  com- 
mission, and  I  may  say  a  federal  commission  unfriendly  to  labor, 
that  even  in  normal  times  there  is  in  the  United  States  an  over- 
supply  of  unskilled  laborers.  We  must  find  some  system  of  dis- 
tributing our  laborers,  to  get  them  out  of  the  cities,  to  get  them 
back  to  the  farms.  Nearly  every  evil  which  society  suffers  from 
has  been  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  to  a  greater  and  greater  ex- 
tent our  population  is  concentrated  in  cities  and  our  farm  popula- 
tion is  growing  relatively  less. 

BASIL  M.  MANLY,  Federal  Industrial  Relations  Commission:  The 
iron  and  steel  industry  is  generally  recognized  as  belonging  to  the 
basic  trades.  As  the  production  of  the  iron  and  steel  industry 
varies,  so  it  is  generally  recognized  does  the  entire  industry  of  the 
country  vary.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that  this  is  an  age  of  iron. 

The  variations  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry  of  which  I  have  the 
figures  are  those  of  1909,  when  at  the  maximum  time  of  employment 
there  were  45,000  men  employed.  That  was  during  the  latter  part 


Public  Responsibility  263 

of  the  year.  During  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  there  was  a  maxi- 
mum of  30,000  men ;  in  the  steel  works  and  rolling  mills  there  was 
a  maximum  of  270,000  and  a  minimum  of  210,000,  making  in  the 
whole  industry  75,000  employed  at  one  time  during  the  year  who 
were  out  of  work  during  another.  All  the  establishments  slack  up 
their  operation  at  the  same  time,  and  this  variation  means  therefore 
that  that  number  of  men  are  out  of  work  at  one  given  time. 

These  figures  were  taken  in  1909,  but  in  every  year  since  1907, 
with  the  single  exception  of  1911,  there  has  been  an  equally  great 
variation.  This  variation  arises  from  two  central  causes  outside 
of  the  industry.  The  first  is  speculation.  In  building  construction 
and  railroad  construction  and  machinery  construction,  everybody 
waits  to  place  orders  until  prices  drop.  Then  when  the  orders  are 
placed  prices  go  up  and  the  industry  booms.  The  second  cause  is 
that  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry  we  have  concentrated  the  vari- 
ations in  all  the  other  industries  which  depend  upon  the  iron  and 
steel  industries  for  machinery  and  raw  material. 

Inside  the  industry  we  also  have  a  cause,  which  can  be  remedied. 
It  is  the  policy  of  the  steel  industry,  and  has  been  for  years,  to 
operate  the  mills  at  top  speed  when  prices  are  good,  to  put  every 
possible  pressure  on  and  run  the  mills  to  the  limit.  Up  until  1910 
the  custom  was  to  run  straight  through  the  week — whenever  prices 
got  high,  run  Saturday,  Sunday  and  everyday.  Since  1910  that  has 
been  somewhat  abated,  but  the  policy  still  remains  of  running  the 
mills  to  the  top  of  their  capacity,  and  then  shutting  down,  closing 
the  department,  letting  the  men  go,  and  letting  them  hang  around 
until  prices  come  back  to  a  profitable  level. 

The  first  effect  of  that  system  is  perfectly  obvious — reduction  in 
the  actual  income  of  the  worker.  We  do  not  need  to  discuss  that. 
The  second  effect  is  the  effect  on  the  wage  level.  The  industry  in 
this  way  requires  about  one-third  more  men  to  run  than  it  would 
need  if  the  irregularity  of  operation  was  smoothed  out;  and  that 
one-third  more  men  who  are  in  the  iron  and  steel  towns  bidding 
for  jobs  are  just  enough  to  tend  to  depress  the  wage  level. 

There  is  another  and  less  known  effect  of  this  policy,  and  that 
is  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  producing  iron  and  steel  products.  It 
is  cheaper  during  a  given  time  to  run  a  mill  to  the  top  level,  to  put 
the  pressure  on  and  get  every  unit  of  product  out  of  that  mill  that 
you  can.  You  get  a  low  cost  for  a  month,  but  when  you  compare 


264  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

a  whole  year  in  which  these  variations  are  going  on,  with  a  year 
in  which  operations  have  been  regular,  the  costs  are  in  favor  of 
regular  operation.  Furthermore — it  is  almost  impossible  to  estab- 
lish this  fact  absolutely,  but  an  iron  manufacturer,  Mr.  George  H. 
Hull,  makes  the  statement  in  his  publication,  and  backs  it  up  with 
some  pretty  good  figures — in  pig  iron  manufacture  a  manufacturer 
would  have  profited  if  he  had  operated  his  blast  furnaces  through 
every  period  of  depression,  stacked  his  pig  iron,  and  sold  it  at  the 
best  prices  during  the  prosperous  period.  He  would  have  profited, 
even  with  the  expense  of  stacking  pig  iron  at  something  like  sixty 
cents  a  ton,  by  having  a  lower  cost  "for  regular  operation. 

EDWARD  P.  FITZGERALD,  Superintendent,  Cooperative  Employ- 
ment Bureau,  San  Francisco:  I  was  just  getting  a  bit  anxious  as 
to  whether  the  conference  was  going  to  continue  the  indefinite  dis- 
cussion of  this  question. 

If  the  conference  wishes  to  consider  the  question  of  unemploy- 
ment from  the  point  of  public  safety,  it  is  from  that  angle  that  I 
would  be  of  most  assistance  to  you. 

My  position  in  connection  with  work  of  this  kind  in  San  Fran- 
cisco is  as  superintendent  of  what  is  known  as  the  San  Francisco 
Cooperative  Employment  Bureau,  an  organization  composed  of 
four  branches  of  various  churches — the  Roman  Catholic,  the  Protes- 
tant, the  Episcopal — ,  in  connection  with  the  Association  of 
Churches. 

Our  work  is  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  the  single  unemployed 
men.  This  is  the  third  winter  that  I  have  been  connected  with  the 
work,  and  in  that  time  I  have  come  in  personal  contact  with  some- 
thing like  7,600  men.  As  a  result,  two  or  three  observations  have 
forced  themselves  on  my  mind  that  possibly  may  strike  you  as  being 
original. 

I  have  met  nearly  every  one  of  these  7,600  men  individually.  We 
have  put  them  to  work  sawing,  chopping  and  sacking  kindling  wood. 
This  wood  has  been  sold  on  the  best  terms  possible,  but  the  insti- 
tution is  by  no  means  self-supporting.  The  first  year  it  cost  about 
$12,500  to  keep  it  going.  In  the  second  year  it  gave  out  40,000 
more  meals  and  about  6,000  more  lodgings;  our  losses  were  cut 
down  to  $7,000,  but  there  is  still  a  loss.  We  are  not  able  to  fill 
the  bill  in  San  Francisco.  We  have  beds  for  something  like  200 


Public  Responsibility  265 

men.  At  the  present  time  there  are  in  San  Francisco  about  1,600 
men  sleeping  in  one  building  alone,  on  the  floors.  Registration  at 
our  bureau  begins  on  December  24th,  and  in  three  weeks  7,500  men 
were  registered.  The  city  government  subscribed  to  the  fund 
$30,000,  nearly  all  of  which  was  used  exclusively  for  food  for 
these  men.  There  were  other  subscriptions  of  about  $40,000, 
nearly  all  of  which  was  expended  in  the  giving  of  work.  This 
work  lasted  six  hours  a  day,  at  twenty  cents  an  hour,  the  theory 
being  to  give  the  single  men  four  days'  work  at  a  time  and  the 
married  men  more.  The  funds  ran  out  before  I  left  San  Fran- 
cisco. Our  unemployed  formed  in  armies — they  demanded  to  be 
fed.  We  are  going  to  try  to  avoid  that  if  possible  next  year.  A 
great  number  of  those  men  have  no  legitimate  reason  for  consider- 
ing San  Francisco  as  their  home.  They  should  not  all  be  carried  by 
San  Francisco,  at  least  not  on  that  basis.  Some  method  of  pruning 
down,  by  some  kind  of  a  work  test,  has  to  be  adopted.  In  the 
ordinary  course  of  our  business  our  institution  would  not  be  able 
to  handle  all  the  men  who  would  come  to  us.  The  charity  or- 
ganizations are  able  to  do  what  they  do  because  they  are  able 
to  segregate  those  who  are  willing  to  work  for  what  they  get  from 
those  who  are  not.  If  we  had  accommodations  for  1,000  I  believe 
we  could  have  handled  the  situation  in  San  Francisco,  by  applying 
the  work  test.  Two  years  ago  when  the  men  went  to  the  mayor 
and  demanded  that  they  be  provided  with  accommodations,  he  told 
them  to  go  down  to  us  and  go  to  work,  and  they  never  came.  This 
winter  they  threatened  just  the  same  as  they  did  in  Seattle  and 
Portland. 

Up  to  the  closing  of  the  kitchen,  4,017  meals  were  given  out.  One 
of  the  elements  we  constantly  face  is  that  a  certain  percentage — 
probably  50  per  cent — are  more  or  less  perpetually  unemployed. 
Remember  that  in  any  discussion  you  are  going  to  have.  I  can 
say  truthfully  that  50  per  cent  of  the  men  who  have  come  to  me 
in  the  course  of  the  last  three  winters  could  not  hold  a  permanent 
job.  Even  if  they  were  satisfied  with  the  work,  the  employer  and 
the  hours,  they  could  not  remain  permanently  on  the  job. 

For  ten  months  after  taking  the  position  of  superintendent  it  was 
my  policy  when  I  needed  a  clerk,  bookkeeper,  or  other  employee,  to 
take  the  most  likely  man  from  the  wood  yard.  After  ten  months 
I  stopped  it,  and  when  I  needed  a  teamster  or  other  help,  I  sent 


266  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

outsider  From  the  cases  of  defective  hearing,  impaired  eye-sight, 
and  defective  mentality  I  came  across,  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  any  institution  like  ours  has  a  great  deal  in  common 
with  the  deal  and  dumb,  blind,  and  insane  asylums,  and  these  defects 
are  regarded  by  physicians  generally  as  the  cause  of  50  per  cent  of 
all  the  unemployed  in  San  Francisco  who  come  for  institutional 
help.  I  believe  that  90  per  cent  would  be  by  far  a  more  appropriate 
figure  than  50  per  cent.  The  same  faces  that  have  been  seen  in  that 
institution  for  the  last  three  winters,  are  in  the  army  demanding 
work.  I  had  to  employ  fifteen  cooks  in  two  years;  either  because 
of  petty  larceny,  drunkenness,  general  nervousness,  or  some  similar 
cause. 

I  wish  to  point  out  to  those  who  come  from  chambers  of  com- 
merce, to  those  who  are  men  of  influence  in  their  home  towns,  the 
practical  benefits  of  maintaining  a  place  of  the  kind  I  am  running, 
and  how  it  will  pay  them  to  run  such  an  institution.  Before  this  in- 
stitution was  in  existence  in  San  Francisco,  these  men  had  to  sleep 
some  place.  When  night  came  on  they  would  go  into  vacant  houses, 
into  the  railroad  yards,  into  lumber  yards,  into  every  nook  and 
place  where  they  could  possibly  crawl.  In  ten  years,  from  1903  to 
1912  inclusive,  the  total  loss  by  fire  in  San  Francisco  was  $12,- 
150,000,  an  average  of  $1,250,000  a  year.  With  the  opening  of  our 
wood  yard  and  lodging  house  that  loss  fell  to  $706,000 — a  difference 
of  $500,000  in  a  year.  The  year  succeeding  that  it  was  $800,000. 
The  most  frequent  type  of  fire  in  San  Francisco  results  from  the 
"hobo"  element.  The  same  applies  to  crime.  Petty  larceny  went 
down  to  the  second  lowest  figure  in  fifteen  years ;  vagrancy  dropped 
by  600.  The  reflex  of  that  trend  is  that  you  can  keep  your  police 
force  down — another  means  of  keeping  up  the  agency. 

If  some  institution  of  this  kind  is  not  provided,  men  are  compelled 
to  do  one  of  two  things — to  ask  or  to  take.  Don't  give  a  man 
a  meal  for  nothing.  While  the  highest  number  of  meals  served 
in  the  wood  yard  reached  500  when  the  men  worked  for  the  meals, 
it  reached  7,000  when  they  did  not  have  to  work. 

I  believe,  therefore,  that  it  pays  to  prevent  a  man  from  sleeping 
in  a  barn  or  in  an  empty  house.  I  believe  it  pays  a  locality  to  see 
that  a  man  is  fed  twice  a  day.  A  man  can  be  fed  a  fairly  good 
meal,  when  he  himself  helps  in  the  cooking  of  it,  for  five  cents. 


Public  Responsibility  .  267 

Three  substantial  meals  would  cost  fifteen  cents.  The  price  of 
housing  would  never  be  more  than  five  cents.  The  total  keep  of  a 
man  under  those  conditions  would  be  twenty  cents  per  day. 

J.  W.  MAGRUDER,  General  Secretary,  Federated  Charities,  Balti- 
more, Maryland:  Having  been  on  the  west  coast  since  last  July, 
I  know  from  first-hand  observation  the  conditions  that  obtain  in 
Seattle  and  in  Portland,  and  although  I  did  not  go  to  San  Francisco, 
I  think  I  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  conditions  there  are,  as  com- 
pared with  the  east  coast,  much  more  acute. 

I  have  listened  with  the  greatest  interest  to  the  statements  of  the 
last  speaker,  and  also  to  the  statements  of  the  speaker  who  comes 
from  Portland,  Oregon.  The  statements  in  regard  to  the  causes  of 
unemployment  in  San  Francisco  are  startling,  and  they  remind 
some  of  us  of  the  statement  made  by  Major  Pangborn,  one  of  the 
officials  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad,  at  a  conference  in 
Minnesota  about  five  years  ago,  to  the  effect  that  the  vagrants  of 
the  country — I  think  my  figures  are  correct — destroy  in  railroad 
property  alone  each  year  $25,000,000.  The  death  list  and  the  in- 
jury list,  according  to  his  statement,  mount  into  the  thousands — I 
am  afraid  to  say  tens  of  thousands,  but  my  recollection  is  that  the 
number  was  between  20,000  and  30,000  men,  dead  and  injured. 

The  statement  has  been  current  for  some  time — and  I  think  it 
has  not  been  challenged — that  there  are  in  all  probability  in  this 
country,  the  richest  country  in  the  world,  about  500,000  vagrants 
and  beggars.  Now,  these  500,000  were  not  originally  mendicants; 
originally  they  were  as  any  of  us.  But  they  have  been  recruited 
from  the  ranks  of  this  large  group  to  which  we  are  giving  attention 
in  this  conference.  Coming  up  to  the  meeting  this  morning,  I 
was  interested  in  a  statement  made  by  my  fellow  citizen  Mr.  Fergu- 
son, president  of  the  state  federation  of  labor,  that  the  seasonal 
occupations,  even  of  those  workers  engaged  in  skilled  lines  and 
commanding  high  wages,  are  utterly  demoralizing  to  the  men,  in 
that  they  spend  not  only  weeks,  but  months  out  of  work.  And 
then  he  described  in  detail  how  the  demoralization  proceeds  until 
man  after  man  becomes  undermined  in  the  very  fabric  of  his  life 
and  character,  and  these  men  furnish  recruits  to  this  army  of  mendi- 
cants. Let  us  assume  that  there  are  half  a  million  of  them  in  this 
country.  I  think  we  are  all  ready  to  agree  with  our  San  Francisco 


268  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

friend  that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  able-bodied  man  who  is 
able  to  crack  rock,  or  split  wood,  or  saw  wood,  should  not  do  it. 
The  most  any  able-bodied  man  could  claim  for  himself  would  be 
the  right  to  make  a  living  honestly  and  honorably.  We  have  in 
Baltimore  a  similar  sort  of  equipment;  this  work  has  been  done 
in  Baltimore  for  about  fifteen  or  more  years,  substantially  the  same 
as  described  in  San  Francisco.  After  you  care  for  the  able-bodied 
man  who  is  out  of  work,  you  have  still  a  larger  contingent  of  men 
who  are  not  able-bodied,  who  cannot  do  these  things ;  and  it  is  a  crime 
to  compel  a  man  in  that  condition  to  do  the  thing  for  which  he  is 
not  fitted  physically.  Now  then,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with 
that  man  ?  I  dare  say  that  in  San  Francisco  you  do  not  exact  from 
a  man  the  impossible? 

MR.  FITZGERALD  :  No  sir ;  we  cannot  use  a  man  without  any  legs, 
without  any  arms,  or  with  only  one  arm. 

MR.  MAGRUDER:  Even  so,  after  having  made  that  allowance, 
there  still  remain  a  number  of  men  for  whom  there  is  nothing  fitted. 
And  furthermore,  after  the  man  has  done  the  job,  have  you  done 
anything  for  the  man?  You  have  no  diversity  of  occupation.  You 
have  not  gotten  anywhere  with  your  problem,  and  you  are  still  up 
against  the  problem  as  regards  the  overwhelming  majority,  as 
regards  men  who  are  classed  as  vagrants  and  beggars.  What  are 
you  going  to  do  with  them?  A  year  ago  last  July  a  conference 
was  held  in  Baltimore  of  the  city  magistrates,  the  police  commis- 
sioners, and  over  sixty  men  and  women  engaged  in  the  various 
branches  of  social  service  that  are  doubtless  represented  here,  as  a 
result  of  which  there  was  developed  a  plan  which  none  of  us  in 
Baltimore  will  say  is  the  final  solution  but  of  which  we  do  say  that 
it  indicates  the  direction  that  we  have  to  travel.  It  is  an  arrange- 
ment of  this  kind : 

The  police  department  details  certain  plain-clothes  men  to  con- 
stitute the  "mendicancy  squad".  I  believe  you  have  such  a  squad 
in  New  York,  whose  function  is  to  go  up  and  down  the  streets  on 
the  outlook  for  beggars  and  vagrants  who  are  "touching"  men  and 
women  for  ten  cents  for  a  night's  lodging,  and  to  run  them  in.  The 
mendicancy  squad  in  Baltimore,  instead  of  watching  for  the  vagrant 
and  the  beggar  to  run  him  in,  is  on  the  street  to  pick  up  the  beggar 
and  the  vagrant,  to  be  sure,  but  only  in  this  sense:  Along  comes 
the  mendicancy  officer,  and  falls  in  with  the  man  he  has  caught 


Public  Responsibility  269 

begging.  He  stops  without  attracting  any  attention,  enters  into  a 
private  conversation  with  the  man  and  notifies  him  that  as  far  as 
Baltimore  is  concerned  he  is  out  of  business.  Begging  is  against 
the  law  with  us,  as  I  presume  it  is  against  the  law  in  every  city  in 
this  country,  and  the  officer  says  to  the  man,  "If  you  try  to  do  this 
thing  I  will  put  you  out  of  business,  as  an  officer  of  the  law.  But 
instead  of  running  you  in  I  am  going  to  stay  alongside  until  I 
have  connected  you  with  the  people  who  will  give  you  an  oppor- 
tunity to  go  into  another  business."  If  the  man  proves  to  be  a 
bona  fide  resident  of  Baltimore,  the  plain-clothes  officer,  instead  of 
taking  him  to  the  station  house,  goes  home  with  him  and  nobody  is 
the  wiser.  They  talk  matters  over  on  the  way  home  and  he  leaves 
the  man  there  with  the  injunction  that  he  is  no  more  to  be  found 
on  the  streets  of  Baltimore  in  the  capacity  of  a  beggar,  but  is  to 
remain  at  his  home,  and  that  the  representative  of  some  of  the 
organized  charities  will  be  communicated  with  at  once  to  go  to  his 
home  and  sit  down  quietly  and  talk  over  the  whole  situation.  These 
societies  have  entered  into  a  public  agreement  that  they  will  guar- 
antee to  every  man  or  woman  who  is  in  such  a  condition  that  he 
has  been  forced  to  beg,  a  chance  either  to  get  a  job  fitted  to  his 
capacity,  by  which  to  make  an  honest  living,  or  in  case  of  his 
inability  to  care  for  himself  along  regular  lines  of  occupation,  they 
will  stay  alongside  until  he  has  gotten  into  a  place  where  he  will  be 
properly  cared  for  as  a  man  who  is  helpless  and  must  be  looked 
after  as  a  needy  applicant. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  is  not  a  resident  of  Baltimore, 
and  therefore  is  a  vagrant  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  can  not  be  taken 
to  his  home.  That  man  is  taken  to  the  station  house,  not  under 
arrest,  but  under  detention,  and  with  the  information  that  he  is 
there  under  detention  and  not  under  arrest.  There  he  is  kept  until 
the  representative  of  the  proper  charity  organization  society  can 
get  to  him  and  go  at  his  problem  in  precisely  the  same  way,  and 
give  him  as  square  a  deal  and  the  same  human  consideration  as  if 
he  had  been  born  and  brought  up  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  If  the 
man  is  from  the  west  coast,  we  stand  good  for  him  until  the  con- 
nections can  be  made  with  the  west  coast,  for  him  to  be  returned 
there. 

It  developed  that  the  first  man  who  was  found  in  this  predica- 
ment was  an  escaped  inmate  of  the  hospital  for  the  insane  at  Mare 


270  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Island,  California.  He  was  sent  to  where  he  belonged,  under  a 
proper  custodian.  As  we  have  said,  a  large  proportion  of  this 
vagrant  population  must  be  cared  for  institutionally,  nothing  but 
institutional  care  will  do.  Then  there  is  a  large  proportion  of 
them  who  are  deserting  husbands,  and  a  large  proportion  are  mere 
runaway  boys.  A  large  proportion  is  young  fellows.  But  all  of 
this  accentuates  the  fact  that  these  men  are  human — they  need 
the  same  discrimination  and  attention  as  the  residents  of  our  com- 
munities. 

The  plan  went  into  effect  not  in  mid-winter,  when  conditions  are 
acute,  but  on  the  i6th  of  July,  in  mid-summer,  when  the  conditions 
are  the  most  favorable.  The  result  was  that  when  we  came  up  to 
mid-winter  the  begging  and  vagrancy  problem  had  been  worked  out, 
and  was  manageable.  The  first  year  1,500  beggars  and  vagrants 
went  under  the  care  of  the  federated  charities  organizations;  the 
next  year  there  were  something  over  1,200.  This  year  we  do  not 
know  what  the  number  will  be,  but  the  effect  has  been  this:  that 
with  unusual  conditions  of  cold  and  unemployment,  as  described  by 
Mr.  Ferguson  at  this  morning's  session,  we  have  been  all  but  free 
of  this  population  that  makes  a  problem  of  its  own,  and  we  have 
been  able  to  concentrate  our  time  and  attention  upon  the  bona  fide 
problem  of  unemployment. 

Now  we  would  like  to  supplement  what  we  have,  with  what  Mr. 
Halbert  and  his  friends  in  Kansas  City  have,  in  the  way  of  in- 
dustrial relief.  I  am  not  sure  about  that;  but  anyhow  the  ideal 
condition  is  where  men  can  be  sent,  not  to  a  rock  pile,  not  to  a 
wood  pile,  but  where  they  can  be  sent  for  commitment  under  an 
indeterminate  sentence,  as  persons  that  need  to  be  trained  to  a 
definite  occupation,  and  to  be  restored  ultimately  to  citizenship 
where  they  can  make  good.  These  men  are  mentally  afflicted  or 
diseased;  they  are  psychopathic  cases,  in  other  words,  and  if  we 
can  have  a  consistent  policy,  beginning  where  you  began  in  San 
Francisco,  and  where  we  began  in  Baltimore  fifteen  years  ago,  and 
coming  right  down  the  line,  and  then  having  it  supplemented  with 
these  other  provisions  that  we  have  and  you  have  not,  why  the 
man  who  is  really  down  and  out  can  be  pulled  together,  re-educated, 
and  put  on  his  feet  again.  We  ought  to  see  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  national  vagrancy  problem  that  is  a  disgrace  to  the 
richest  nation  in  the  world.  And  I  will  close  with  this,  that  after 


Public  Responsibility  271 

you  have  dealt  with  unemployment,  you  have  not  dealt  with  all  of 
the  causes  that  make  for  vagrancy.  Back  of  this  lie  the  industrial 
questions  that  are  really  the  root  of  the  trouble. 

JOHN  H.  WALKER,  President,  Illinois  Federation  of  Labor:  I 
suppose  that  most  of  you  have  heard  the  old  saying,  "Beware  of  the 
Greeks  when  they  come  bringing  gifts,"  and  as  one  of  the  army 
of  workmen,  I  put  myself  in  the  category  of  those  who  have  had 
to  fight  for  just  about  everything  they  ever  got.  Consequently, 
when  promise  of  relief  from  possibly  the  worst  problem  that  we 
have  to  deal  with  are  held  out  from  a  source  not  actually  the  work- 
ers, the  old  saying  comes  to  my  mind.  And  still  the  problem  is  so 
acute,  and  it  does  mean  so  much,  and  the  possibilities  are  that  there 
are  so  many  people  in  this  world  who  are  not  actually  workers 
themselves  but  who  would  like  to  see  it  all  on  a  just  basis,  that  I 
felt  I  would  like  to  be  at  this  meeting.  Anyhow,  I  figured,  it  is 
a  vital  problem;  and  whether  those  who  attend  are  friends  or  ene- 
mies in  disguise,  to  have  the  problem  brought  home  to  all  of  the 
people  of  our  country  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  not  help  under- 
stand something  about  what  it  really  is,  will  be  worth  while. 

But  the  unemployment  problem,  in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  honest 
workers,  is  not  going  to  be  solved  ultimately  by  charity.  It  is  not 
going  to  be  solved,  either,  by  the  voluntary  action  of  humane  indi- 
viduals who  are  not  directly  involved  in  the  industrial  questions  of 
our  country.  You  know  we  have  been  double-crossed  and  deluded 
so  often  that  when  anything  is  held  out  to  us  the  first  thing  we  look 
for  is  to  see  where  we  are  going  to  get  the  worst  of  it;  and  one  of 
the  first  things  that  came  to  my  mind  was  that  it  was  possible  that 
these  well-intentioned  people,  taking  an  interest  in  this  question  of 
unemployment,  might  organize  the  labor  exchange  bureaus  in  such 
a  way  that  the  entire  unemployed  army  would  be  mobilized  and  that 
the  employers  would  have  such  access  to  it  as  to  be  enabled  to  use 
it  at  any  point,  at  all  times,  to  break  down  the  things  that  the  organ- 
ized workers  in  our  country  have  already  established  by  fighting 
for  them  hard  and  long. 

I  do  not  like  to  see  suffering.  I  do  not  like  to  suffer  myself.  But 
there  is  a  doubt  in  my  mind  whether  I  would  be  doing  the  most 
honorable  thing,  if  I  were  out  of  employment,  if  I  took  a  job  where 
I  had  to  work  four  hours  a  day  to  enable  me  to  earn  twenty  cents. 


272  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

I  know  that  it  is  well-intentioned  people  who  furnish  that  revenue 
of  relief  to  men  who  are  out  of  employment;  but  I  tell  you  frankly 
that  I  believe  that  the  man  who  has  to  work  four  hours  a  day  for 
twenty  cents  for  any  length  of  time,  will  soon  get  to  the  point  where 
he  will  not  only  be  worthless,  but  will  be  a  menace  to  the  community. 

If  this  problem  is  going  to  be  solved  properly,  we  are  going  to 
have  to  go  to  the  root  of  it,  and  to  deal  with  the  employers  with- 
out considering  their  feelings  very  much,  or  the  amount  of  money 
they  are  to  make  out  of  their  industry. 

One  of  the  things  that  brought  this  point  home  to  me  was  the 
statement  made  by  our  friend  from  the  Boston  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. He  said  a  law  had  been  enacted  which  took  the  girls  be- 
tween the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  out  of  the  factories  but  made 
no  further  provision  for  them,  and  that  instead  of  helping,  that 
had  added  to  the  complications  of  the  unemployment  problem.  I 
might  say  that  it  was  about  a  hundred  years  ago  since  they  enacted 
laws  in  Great  Britain  that  took  the  women  and  children  out  of  the 
mines,  and  for  the  same  reason  it  could  be  said  that  that  law  ad- 
ded to  the  problem.  In  Illinois  we  have  a  law  that  prohibits  a  boy 
from  going  into  the  mines  until  he  is  sixteen,  and  I  suppose  that  is 
going  to  add  to  the  complications  of  the  unemployment  problem. 
But  I  dare  say  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman  in  this  meeting  but 
will  agree  that  if  it  were  his  or  her  child  that  was  under  consider- 
ation, sixteen  years  would  not  be  thought  an  excessive  period  for 
that  child  to  spend  in  acquiring  the  education  it  would  need  to 
give  to  the  world  the  best  that  is  in  it  and  not  to  become  a  burden 
to  itself  and  to  the  nation. 

We  have  taken  up  this  unemployment  problem  in  our  state.  We 
sent  out  a  circular  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  it;  and  I  say  to  you 
it  is  difficult  to  find  out  how  many  men  are  unemployed  and  how 
many  women  and  children  are  suffering,  for  the  ones  who  are 
suffering  the  most  would  die  almost  rather  than  allow  the  fact  to 
become  public  property.  For  that  reason  we  cannot  find  out  just 
what  the  actual  conditions  are.  But  everybody  who  deals  with  this 
problem  knows  from  the  things  they  meet  in  everyday  life  that  in- 
dustrial conditions  are  serious  in  our  country  to-day,  more  serious 
than  they  have  been  for  a  very  long  time.  We  have  asked  each 
local  union  in  Illinois  to  find  out  which  of  its  members  are  out  of 
work,  and  to  try  to  arrange  matters  so  that  they  won't  need  to 


Public  Responsibility  273 

starve  or  freeze.     The  organizations  are  doing  this,  but  I  say  to 
you  that  they  are  being  taxed  to  their  utmost. 

I  suppose  there  are  hundreds  of  ways  of  solving  this  problem. 
I  have  in  my  own  mind  something  I  am  going  to  give  you  for  what 
it  is  worth.  In  the  first  place,  I  believe  that  we  should  have  em- 
ployment agencies  established  in  the  different  municipalities  to  take 
care  of  the  immediate  local  problems.  I  think  we  should  have  a 
bureau  established  under  the  direction  and  in  charge  of  the  different 
states,  and  I  think  we  ought  to  have  an  organization  of  that  kind 
under  the  charge  of  our  federal  government.  I  believe  that  there 
should  be  an  insurance  provision  providing  that  men  who  could  not 
find  employment  would  be  paid,  not  as  a  matter  of  charity,  but  as 
a  matter  of  right,  enough  to  keep  them  and  their  families  and  enable 
them  to  live  decently.  But  to  prevent  these  bureaus  from  being  a 
curse  instead  of  a  help,  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  ship  a  man 
where  there  is  any  labor  trouble,  where  there  is  a  strike  on  either 
for  better  conditions  or  against  a  reduction  of  wages,  or  because 
employers  have  refused  to  allow  their  working  people  to  organize, 
or  for  any  other  good  cause.  I  believe  that  in  order  to  have  this 
thing  operate  right,  the  government  itself  should  endeavor  to  em- 
ploy in  the  federal,  state  and  municipal  undertakings  every  man 
and  woman  who  is  unemployed.  In  the  event  that  this  cannot  be 
done  without  reducing  hours  beyond  the  minimum  necessary  for 
practical  operations,  those  who  still  cannot  find  work  should  be 
maintained  by  a  tax  levied  on  all  industry.  That  will  mean  that 
in  so  far  as  the  government  can  give  it  to  them,  the  men  and 
women  of  the  country  will  have  employment;  and  in  so  far  as 
the  government  with  the  undertakings  it  has  in  charge,  and  the 
private  employers  who  own  the  other  industries,  are  not  able  to 
furnish  employment  for  these  men  and  women,  the  private  em- 
ployers and  the  other  citizens  will  be  required  to  keep  them  until 
they  are  furnished  employment.  I  feel  that  it  is  the  private  owners 
of  all  industry  in  our  country,  and  not  the  workers,  who  are  really 
responsible  for  the  conditions  existing  which  make  it  impossible  for 
a  man  or  woman  willing  to  work  to  get  a  job;  and  I  think  they 
should  be  required  to  keep  the  unemployed  until  they  do  find  work. 
The  workers  themselves,  also,  having  the  right  to  vote  and  the  right 
to  make  laws  and  to  select  men  to  enforce  them,  indirectly  have  a 
responsibility  in  this  matter,  and  if  they  were  made  to  pay  their 


274  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

share  of  the  penalty  for  a  man's  or  a  woman's  being  unable  to  get 
work,  I  think  it  would  help  bring  the  responsibility  home  to  them. 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  this  morning  made  a  plain  state- 
ment of  the  case.  The  only  reason  that  people  are  out  of  a  job 
at  the  present  time  is  because  there  is  not  a  job  for  them.  Im- 
mediately providing  jobs  is  the  thing  that  will  immediately  furnish 
relief.  We  have  a  considerable  number  of  projects  that  could  be 
utilized  by  our  federal  government.  But  first  I  want  to  say  that 
as  long  as  there  is  an  unemployed  working  man  or  woman  in  our 
country  who  cannot  get  a  job  there  should  be  no  further  labor 
immigration  allowed.  If  they  will  stop  labor  immigration  into  our 
nation  for  the  next  ten  years,  we  will  solve  the  unemployment 
problem  by  the  development  of  our  industries.  In  the  meantime  I 
believe  that  there  are  a  considerable  number  of  forms  of  employ- 
ment that  can  be  furnished  through  our  national  and  state  govern- 
ments, and  through  the  different  municipalities,  and  that  they  won't 
have  to  go  into  bankruptcy  while  they  are  doing  it.  The  labor 
furnished  will  pay  back  to  the  people  at  least  all  that  it  has  cost 
them,  in  the  very  near  future;  and,  ultimately,  it  will  be  almost 
impossible  to  compute  the  value  that  it  might  be  to  our  nation. 
We  need  water-ways — I  suppose  if  there  was  a  deep  water-way 
made  from  New  Orleans  to  Chicago  there  would  be  millions  of 
acres  of  our  land  replanted.  The  cost  of  transportation  would  be 
reduced  and  that  would  be  a  permanent  source  of  revenue  to  our 
nation.  I  suppose  200,000  or  300,000  of  the  unemployed  could  be 
put  at  that  work  immediately,  and  I  do  not  know  of  anything  that 
would  pay  greater  returns  to  the  people  than  to  have  this  done. 
Those  water  routes  could  be  used  for  generating  power,  and  the 
installing  of  that  equipment  would  almost  absorb,  for  years  and 
years,  if  we  cut  out  the  immigration  now,  all  the  unemployed  of 
our  nation.  As  has  been  mentioned  by  Professor  Sanford,  home 
projects,  sewage,  drainage,  etc.,  could  be  started,  so  that  it  really 
is  possible  to  improve  conditions. 

In  closing  I  want  to  emphasize  what  the  representative  of  the 
mayor  of  Philadelphia  said:  The  intelligent  workers  and  the  in- 
telligent humane  people  outside  of  the  workers'  ranks  are  either 
going  to  solve  this  problem  on  the  basis  of  reason  in  an  orderly, 
progressive  way,  some  time  in  the  near  future,  or  this  feeling  of 
bitterness  that  is  being  engendered  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 


Public  Responsibility  275 

workers  of  our  country  will  precipitate  a  condition  that  will  make 
the  solution  still  more  costly. 

JOHN  PRICE  JACKSON,  Pennsylvania  Commissioner  of  Labor  and 
Industry:  I  believe  that  one  of  the  best  things  that  can  be  done 
in  these  great  United  States  to-day  to  prevent  the  most  serious 
phase  of  the  problem  of  unemployment,  is  rapidly  to  add  what  we 
call  vocational  education  to  our  school  systems  throughout  the 
country.  In  every  community,  big  and  little,  there  should  be  a 
vocational  school,  where  the  boy  of  fourteen  or  sixteen  or  eighteen 
may  go  a  day  a  week,  and  where,  while  he  works  and  gets  enough 
to  pay  for  bread  and  butter  and  lodging,  he  can  also  get  the  brain 
inspiration  that  is  going  to  make  him  a  useful  man  throughout  life, 
and  where  a  man  of  any  age  may  go  in  the  evening,  or  at  such  times 
as  he  has  available,  to  improve  his  capacity.  I  think  there  is  no 
other  matter  of  greater  importance  to  us  to-day  in  this  great  prob- 
lem of  unemployment,  than  this  one  of  vocational  education. 

A.  L.  GRAHAM,  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Life,  New  York 
City:  New  York  is  suffering  more  than  ever  before  from  down- 
and-outs,  and  the  question  arises,  What  can  we  do  to  stay  this 
thing  ? 

I  have  something  up  my  sleeve,  and  I  call  it  the  "Good  Samari- 
tan." The  Samaritan  did  his  work  at  the  time  when  it  was  needed, 
and  he  did  it  properly  and  right  and  completely,  and  I  trust  that 
this  conference  in  dealing  with  the  unemployment  question  will  take 
every  proposition  up  that  will  help  the  under  man,  give  him  an  op- 
portunity to  work  and  make  him  self -providing. 

How  can  this  be  done?  It  is  a  problem.  The  Industrial  Home,  I 
think,  is  one  of  the  institutions  that  did  the  first  real  work  for  the 
down-and-outs;  they  gave  a  man  a  bed,  but  he  earned  it.  It  was 
a  good  proposition.  Then  there  is  the  Bowery  Mission — that  has 
a  field.  New  York  city  and  Jersey  City  also  are  harboring  many 
men  who  are  out  of  work.  The  great  problem  is  to  take  the  man 
who  is  not  working  and  be  concerned  in  him  yourself.  I  always 
have  on  tap  a  down-and-out  man,  and  try  to  help  him.  Have  you 
ever  watched  the  down-and-out?  If  he  has  not  the  price  for  a  bed 
himself,  he  always  walks  the  streets  with  another,  and  their  fellow- 
ship is  closer  than  that  of  brothers.  Let  us  give  them  fellowship, 
such  as  they  need. 


276  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

S.  A.  STODEL,  New  York  City:  The  unemployment  question  is 
considerable  of  a  problem,  but  the  unemployment  problem  flows 
from  a  far  deeper,  a  more  significant  problem.  We  have  the  unem- 
ployed with  us  not  because  they  are  desirous  of  being  unemployed, 
but,  as  the  speaker  from  Virginia  this  morning,  and  Mr.  Walker 
this  afternoon  made  clear,  because  they  cannot  get  a  job;  and  the 
reason  they  cannot  get  a  job  is  that  the  fellow  that  owns  the  job 
wants  to  play  whole  hog  and  get  all  he  can  out  of  the  job. 

It  has  been  said  that  many  of  the  unemployed  are  unemployed 
because  they  are  industrially  unfit.  Of  course  they  are  industrially 
unfit.  While  at  work  they  are  under-paid  and  over- worked.  They 
become  physically  unfit ;  they  become  charges  in  institutions,  and  in 
this  way  furnish  employment  for  a  lot  of  people  who  otherwise 
would  not  be  employed.  These  people  put  them  through  a  long 
process  of  exploitation,  for  instance,  getting  them  to  work  four 
hours  for  twenty  cents.  Now  just  imagine  what  possibility  there  is 
for  these  poor  unfortunates  who  have  been  kicked  down  the  in- 
dustrial line — why  they  have  not  a  chance  on  earth,  or  any  other 
place.  They  are  industrially  unfit — because  they  have  been  robbed, 
they  have  been  devitalized,  due  to  the  manner  in  which  they  have 
been  compelled  to  live.  And  then  you  come  here  and  discuss  this 
problem,  without  giving  this  poor  unfortunate  an  opportunity  to 
speak  for  himself.  I  say  the  time  will  come  when  this  poor  un- 
fortunate will  come  here  and  tell  you  that  you  are  the  problem,  and 
not  he.  You  refuse  to  pay  any  attention  to  this  thing  except  when 
it  becomes  so  acute  that  you  must  pay  passing  notice  to  it.  You 
can  form  all  the  employment  agencies  you  want,  and  these  men  will 
build  your  railroads,  they  will  build  your  tunnels  and  your  water 
systems,  and  as  long  as  you  are  going  to  furnish  these  men  to  be 
robbed  by  the  contractors  and  other  exploiters  of  labor,  you  are 
going  to  have  this  problem  on  your  hands. 

I  tell  you  that  the  time  is  coming,  is  nearly  at  hand  to-day,  when 
this  problem,  as  you  choose  to  call  it,  will  turn  around  and  in- 
vestigate you  to  find  out  why  you  have  been  doing  it. 

FRANK  HAMILTON,  New  York  City:  As  far  as  I  can  gather  from 
what  has  been  said,  there  seem  to  be  two  ends  to  this  question: 
Where  you  are  going  to,  and  where  your  problem  came  from.  Now 
I  don't  know  anything  about  where  you  are  going  to;  where  the 


Public  Responsibility  277 

problem  came  from  is  what  interests  me.  I  believe  that  the  bot- 
tom of  this  whole  thing  lies  more  than  anything  else,  in  the  public 
school.  We  are  teaching  in  the  public  schools  and  in  the  high 
schools,  and  in  the  colleges,  for  that  matter,  everything  under  the 
heavens  except  character.  When  I  was  at  school  I  had  a  school- 
mate who  would  go  up  to  the  blackboard  and  write  his  name 
beautifully,  and  he  drew  beautifully.  The  last  I  heard  of  the  poor 
fellow  he  was  in  the  penitentiary.  One  of  the  results  of  this  kind 
of  education  is  the  kind  of  thing  we  are  having  to  discuss  here  to- 
day. It  has  been  said  that  one  province  of  the  public  school  which 
has  been  overlooked  is  industrial  education,  with  which  I  thoroughly 
agree.  But  I  think  that  back  of  all  that  the  Bible  should  be  put  into 
the  public  schools,  and  character  should  be  taught  in  the  public 
schools,  because  the  vital  interests  of  the  nation  depend  more  than 
anything  else  on  the  character  of  its  citizens,  as  we  are  finding 
to-day  in  Mexico. 


Ill 

THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  UNEMPLOYMENT 
JOINT  SESSION  WITH  THE  PEOPLES*  INSTITUTE 


Presiding  Officer:  HENRY  R.  SEAGER 

President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


THE    ENGLISH    METHOD    OF    DEALING    WITH    THE 

UNEMPLOYED 


HENRY  R.  SEAGER 
President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation. 


The  United  Kingdom  is  the  one  country  in  the  world  that  has 
had  the  courage  to  attack  unemployment  as  a  great  national  prob- 
lem, and  with  the  conviction  that  it  is  a  problem  which  it  can  solve. 
As  usually  is  the  case  with  pioneers  in  social  legislation,  this  dis- 
tinction comes  to  England  not  because  of  any  greater  intelligence, 
perhaps,  than  other  countries  have  displayed,  but  from  the  sheer 
necessity  of  the  situation. 

With  the  return  of  the  soldiers  from  South  Africa  after  the  close 
of  the  Boer  war,  the  United  Kingdom  was  brought  face  to  face  with 
an  unemployment  problem  more  serious  than  that  experienced  by 
any  other  country  in  the  world,  and  it  was  out  of  those  years  of 
continual  distress  and  unrest  in  consequence  of  unemployment,  that 
public  opinion  was  educated  to  carry  out  the  program  which  I 
shall  try  to  describe. 

In  England,  as  in  all  countries  that  have  been  confronted  with 
a  serious  amount  of  unemployment,  the  first  remedies  were  merely 
palliative;  the  usual  plans  were  adopted,  distress  committees  were 
organized  in  the  different  cities,  money  was  raised  from  charitable 
people,  the  government  made  contributions ;  and  through  these  com- 
mittees relief  was  afforded,  sometimes  with  work.  That  was  the 
policy  pursued  for  several  years. 

When  improvement  did  not  follow,  it  was  found  that  the  ma- 
chinery was  not  sufficiently  comprehensive,  that  greater  distress 
committees  should  be  organized,  and  that  larger  sums  should  be  ex- 
pended in  furnishing  work  for  the  unemployed,  or  supplying  them 
with  relief.  Working  on  that  theory,  in  1905  the  unemployed  work- 
men act  was  passed,  a  measure  which  provided  through  govern- 
mental machinery  for  these  distress  committees  in  the  different 
cities  of  the  country,  and  provided  from  the  government  treasury 
some  revenue  for  the  work  of  the  committees.  Still  working  on 


282  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

the  basis  of  relief,  but  making  work  for  the  unemployed  in  air 
artificial  way,  these  committees  expended  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
pounds.  I  think  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  though  their  in- 
tentions were  of  the  best,  they  did  on  the  whole  more  harm  than 
good.  At  any  rate,  it  certainly  is  true  that  during  the  period  that 
effort  was  directed  in  these  channels  the  evil  of  unemployment  was 
not  materially  relieved. 

The  one  important  service  these  distress  committees  rendered 
was  to  impress  upon  public  opinion  the  need  of  some  sort  of  a 
clearing  house  for  labor.  They  emphasized  the  need  for  an  organi- 
zation of  the  labor  market  so  that  the  jobless  man  and  the  manless 
job,  to  use  the  committee  phrase,  could  be  brought  together,  no 
matter  how  far  they  might  be  separated,  and  so  that  the  country  as 
a  whole  might  be  informed  as  to  how  extensive  unemployment 
was,  as  to  how  much  there  really  was  behind  the  complaint  of  men 
in  this  or  the  other  city  that  they  were  looking  for  work  and  could 
not  find  it. 

The  present  conference  has  brought  out  very  clearly  how  little 
real  information  on  this  subject  we  have  in  this  country.  The  state- 
ment has  often  been  made  that  300,000  men  were  unemployed  in 
New  York  city.  The  commissioner  of  labor  states  that  that  would 
be  an  exaggerated  statement  as  applied  to  the  whole  state,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  city.  But  we  do  not  know,  and  he  does  not  know. 
Exactly  that  same  ignorance  was  experienced  in  the  United  King- 
dom, and  finding  that  the  Committees  were  not  giving  the  relief 
needed  the  government  decided  upon  the  important  next  step.  This 
was  the  creation  of  a  chain  of  connected,  free  public  employment 
bureaus — bureaus  or  exchanges  that  should  serve  as  the  intermediary 
between  the  men  and  women  looking  for  work  and  the  employers 
looking  for  employees,  bureaus  which  should  be  found  not  merely  in 
London  or  Liverpool  or  Manchester,  but  in  every  corner  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  that  should  be  so  connected  by  telephone  and 
telegraph,  and  by  the  interchange  of  weekly  reports,  that  it  would 
be  possible  to  get  in  touch  with  every  bona  fide  seeker  for  work 
on  one  hand,  and  with  every  employer  looking  for.  workers  on  the 
other  hand. 

The  act  creating  these  free  public  employment  labor  exchanges 
was  passed  in  1909.  It  took  some  time  to  get  the  machinery  or- 
ganized,.but  after  four  or  five  years  as  many  as  430  of  these  em- 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  283 

ployment  exchanges  were  opened  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
and  it  is  now  true  that  these  exchanges,  and  the  subsidiary  offices 
connected  with  them,  are  within  five  miles  of  every  considerable 
group  of  workers  in  the  United  Kingdom;  so  that  any  man  out  of 
work,  by  going  not  more  than  five  miles,  can  bring  his  situation  to 
the  attention  of  these  bureaus,  and  employers  with  equal  necessities 
can  be  put  in  touch  with  the  workers  whom  they  require. 

How  important  these  bureaus  have  become  as  agencies  for  con- 
necting the  worker  with  the  work  that  is  available,  is  shown  by  the 
monthly  reports,  the  last  of  which  refer  to  the  month  ending  De- 
cember 1 2th  of  last  year.  During  the  month  preceding  that  date 
at  these  exchanges  there  were  registered  221,179  applicants  for 
work.  It  was  in  mid-winter  and  England  was  beginning  to  exper- 
ience some  of  the  industrial  depression  that  we  have  experienced  in 
this  country.  For  only  68,671  of  these  applicants,  accordingly,  was 
work  found.  This  is  of  tremendous  value  as  a  step  toward  relieving 
unemployment.  The  discrepancy  between  the  number  of  applicants 
for  work  and  the  number  who  are  found  work,  however,  brings 
out  very  clearly  that  the  organization  of  employment  exchanges  is 
not  a  remedy  for  unemployment.  It  is  not  a  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. If  these  exchanges  did  their  work  perfectly — and  they  are 
working  better  and  better  all  the  time — the  most  they  could  ac- 
complish would  be  to  bring  workers  to  such  jobs  as  offered  them- 
selves; they  could  not  supply  jobs  that  were  not  there.  The  chief 
reason  for  such  unemployment  as  we  have  been  suffering  from  in 
this  country  in  recent  months  is  not  the  lack  of  means  of  bringing 
the  worker  to  the  work  that  offers  itself,  though  we  lack  those 
means  conspicuously.  The  chief  reason  is  that  the  work  itself  is 
lacking,  that  industries  are  slack,  that  there  are  no  jobs  for  the 
jobless  men,  and  that  the  most  perfect  machinery  that  could  be 
devised  in  the  form  of  labor  exchanges,  though  it  would  lessen  the 
evil,  would  not  cure  it.  In  other  words,  this  part  of  the  solution 
that  is  being  worked  out  by  the  United  Kingdom  can  serve,  as  it 
works  more  and  more  perfectly,  only  at  best  to  minimize  the  num- 
ber of  the  unemployed,  and  reduce  to  the  minimum  the  number  who 
cannot  find  work — it  cannot  find  work  for  all  unless  work  is  actually 
available  for  all. 

Why  is  there  not  work  enough  for  all  ?  That  is  a  large  question, 
and  I  do  not  intend  to  go  into  it  except  as  it  relates  to  one  phase 


284  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

of  the  problem  which  illustrates,  at  any  rate,  other  aspects  of  the 
problem.  One  reason  is,  as  we  all  know,  that  industries  are  sea- 
sonal. Many  industries  have  their  periodic  rise  and  fall  in  the 
course  of  a  normal  year.  Active  during  part  of  the  year,  they  are 
then  slack,  to  become  active  during  a  subsequent  part  of  the  year, 
and  perhaps  have  again  a  dull  period.  That  is  the  cause  with  per- 
haps a  majority  of  industries,  because  where  the  industry  is  not 
directly  affected  by  the  seasons  it  often  is  affected  indirectly  be- 
cause it  is  related  to  other  industries  that  are  affected  by  the  seasons. 
The  building  trades,  agricultural  industries,  'longshore  work,  the 
clothing  industry,  and  a  long  list  of  our  industries  are  thus  affected. 
In  these  seasonal  industries  obviously  there  must  be  enough  workers 
to  meet  the  demand  at  the  height  of  the  season,  and  if  there  are 
enough  workers  at  the  height  of  the  season,  then,  clearly,  there 
will  be  too  many  workers  when  the  dull  season  comes  along  and 
there  will  be  unemployment  at  such  time. 

Those  who  have  thought  out  the  problem  in  the  United  Kingdom 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  just  two  ways  in  which 
this  part  of  the  evil  can  be  met. 

One  is  to  dovetail  seasonal  industries  together  so  that  one  in- 
dustry will  release  its  workers  in  its  dull  season,  to  be  employed  in 
the  busy  season  of  a  related  industry.  So  far  as  that  is  possible 
that  is  one  line  of  solution.  But  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  empha- 
size the  fact  that  that  is  possible  only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  It 
is  more  possible  for  unskilled  manual  laborers  than  for  skilled 
workers,  because  the  former  can  turn  to  other  unskilled  work 
readily.  The  very  fact  that  a  man  is  a  skilled  worker  means  that 
he  is  not  prepared  to  go  into  another  industry  for  which  he  is 
untrained. 

The  other  remedy  is  some  device  by  which  income  will  continue 
through  the  dull  season,  so  that  the  man  who  is  out  of  work  will 
not  at  the  same  time  be  entirely  out  of  pocket;  so  that  when  his 
wages  cease  because  his  trade  is  marking  time,  an  income,  cur- 
tailed somewhat,  but  still  some  income,  will  continue  to  come  to 
him  and  he  and  his  family  will  be  relieved  -from  the  anxiety  and 
destitution  and  demoralization  that  usually  go  with  unemployment 
in  the  absence  of  any  such  system. 

In  this  country  we  thus  far  have  looked  to  wage-earners  them- 
selves, by  their  savings,  to  provide  this  resource  during  the  period 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  285 

when  their  wages  stop,  and  doubtless  the  unemployment  through 
which  we  are  now  passing  has  not  inflicted  nearly  as  much  suffer- 
ing upon  the  wage-earners  as  it  would  have  inflicted  if  so  many  of 
them  were  not  saving  and  had  not  resources  on  which  they  could 
draw  while  work  is  slack.  But  this  method  is  a  very  unintelligent  one. 
It  is  unintelligent  because  unemployment  is  a  risk  to  which  all  of  us 
are  more  or  less  exposed,  but  which  some  of  us  escape.  Every 
contingency  that  is  a  risk  can  most  economically  be  provided  for 
through  the  machinery  of  insurance,  through  a  plan  that  causes  the 
whole  group  of  people  who  are  affected  to  combine  their  resources, 
so  that  out  of  that  combined  fund  payments  can  be  made  to  the 
few  or  small  number  in  the  group  who  meet  the  contingency,  and 
have  to  be  provided  for.  It  is  common  knowledge  that,  by  paying 
a  very  moderate  amount  into  a  common  fund,  those  whose  prop- 
erty is  destroyed  by  fire  can  receive  compensation  for  loss.  That 
same  machinery  is  the  intelligent  machinery  to  apply  to  this  risk  of 
unemployment,  and  this  second  remedy,  insurance  against  unem- 
ployment, was  the  remedy  which  the  English  government  courage- 
ously adopted  as  a  part  of  its  national  insurance  act  of  1911. 

This  act  is  all  the  more  significant  because  it  was  the  first  time 
that  a  government  introduced  national  insurance  against  unemploy- 
ment. It  was  not,  however,  a  leap  in  the  dark,  a  blind  experiment. 
There  was  a  great  deal  of  experience  on  which  the  British  govern- 
ment based  its  plan,  and  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  that 
plan  was  carefully  thought  out  and  capable  of  adaption  to  meet 
the  various  difficulties  of  the  problem.  The  experience  on  which  the 
United  Kingdom  drew  in  working  out  its  insurance  plan  was  the 
experience  of  the  labor  organizations.  Labor  organizations  are 
the  bodies  that  have  shown  a  capacity  to  deal  with  this  problem 
along  insurance  lines  for  their  members.  In  the  English  colonies, 
particularly,  more  than  in  our  American  communities,  out-of-work 
benefit  had  become  a  common  feature.  Some  eighty  of  the  one 
hundred  principal  British  unions  at  the  time  the  national  insurance 
plan  was  adopted  were  paying  out-of-work  benefits  regularly  to 
their  members;  that  is,  they  collected  dues  from  their  members 
sufficiently  high  to  supply  a  fund  out  of  which  these  out-of-work 
benefits  could  be  paid  to  members  who  were  out  of  work,  and 
through  which  the  worst  consequences  of  unemployment  were  re- 
moved. The  unemployed  member  of  a  British  trade  union  looks 


286  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

upon  unemployment  not  as  a  calamity,  but  merely  as  an  incident. 

Trade  unions  are  peculiarly  able  to  administer  out-of-work  bene- 
fits because  they  can  prevent  their  members  from  taking  unfair 
advantage  of  the  system.  The  great  difficulty  of  unemployment  in- 
surance is  that  it  presents  such  a  great  temptation  to  the  man  who 
would  rather  live  by  his  wits  than  by  his  hands,  to  live  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  insurance  fund.  Work  is  so  monotonous,  and  over- 
work is  so  common,  that  the  possibility  of  getting  a  day's  wage 
without  doing  a  day's  work  presents  a  certain  temptation  to  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  man.  The  trade  unions  have  the  advantage  that  the 
members  have  a  sense  of  loyalty  to  the  union,  which  deters  them 
from  taking  advantage  of  the  union  funds.  In  the  second  place, 
the  members  know  one  another  very  well,  and  that  makes  it  diffi- 
cult for  one  to  live  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  to  pretend  to  be 
out  of  work  because  he  cannot  find  work,  when  he  is  out  of  work 
mainly  because  he  does  not  want  to  work.  Thirdly,  the  trade  union 
secretary  is  himself  usually  an  employment  agent.  He  is  the  man 
to  whom  the  employer  in  an  organized  trade  looks  when  he  wants 
workers.  Under  these  conditions,  if  the  trade  union  secretary  has 
reason  to  suspect  that  this  or  that  member  is  living  at  the  expense 
of  the  fund,  and  does  not  really  want  to  work,  he  can  apply  the 
work  test  by  putting  a  job  in  his  direction.  If  the  man  refuses  to 
take  the  job  he  is  not  only  out  of  the  job  but  out  of  grace.  He 
can  be  shut  off  from  the  out-of-work  benefit  because  in  all  of  these 
plans  refusal  to  take  work  disqualifies  the  man  from  continuing  to 
draw  out-of-work  pay. 

The  famous  "Ghent  system"  is  a  system  under  which  the  trade 
unions  were  looked  to  to  administer  the  unemployment  insurance, 
but  were  subsidized  by  the  municipality  for  this  purpose.  Part  of 
the  cost  of  providing  out-of-work  benefits  was  taken  up  by  the 
municipal  board.  The  trade  union  had  still  the  opportunity  of 
seeing  that  the  system  was  administered  economically  and  fairly, 
but  the  entire  expense  did  not  fall  on  the  union — part  of  it  fell  on. 
the  municipality.  It  is  very  much  better,  from  the  Ghent  point  of 
view,  that  the  worker  draw  these  benefits  in  a  way  that  maintains 
his  self-respect  and  efficiency,  than  that  he  be  forced  to  become 
a  recipient  of  charity. 

That  was  the  progress  that  had  been  made  in  the  direction  of 
unemployment  insurance  when  the  British  national  insurance  act 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  287 

was  passed  in  1911.  That  act  undertook  to  introduce  into  Great 
Britain  on  one  hand  the  Ghent  system — that  is  the  system  of  gov- 
ernment subsidized  unemployment  insurance  through  labor  organi- 
zations— and  on  the  other  hand  a  national  government  administered 
system  of  unemployment  insurance.  Under  the  law,  which  was  the 
same  law  that  introduced  the  illness  insurance  system,  seven  great 
trades,  including  the  building  trade,  ship-building,  construction  work, 
construction  of  vehicles,  and  other  trades  of  related  nature,  were 
chosen  as  a  sort  of  experiment  ground.  The  law  required  em- 
ployees in  these  seven  great  trades,  some  2,500,000  men  and  women, 
to  carry  on  unemployment  insurance.  The  machinery  of  the  sys- 
tem was  very  similar  to  the  machinery  used  in  connection  with  all 
of  these  great  national  insurance  plans.  On  the  employee  rested 
the  obligation  to  procure  an  unemployment  insurance  book,  which 
on  taking  employment  must  be  deposited  with  the  employer.  On 
the  employer  rested  the  obligation  of  pasting  in  the  book  at  the  end 
of  each  week,  or  at  the  regular  pay  day,  the  stamps  representing 
the  unemployment  insurance  premium.  The  premium  for  an  adult 
was  set  at  five  pence  a  week,  irrespective  of  wages.  Of  these  five 
pence  (ten  cents  in  our  money)  one-half  comes  out  of  the  em- 
ployer's pocket,  one-half  comes  out  of  the  wages  of  the  employee. 
To  this  sum  is  added  a  contribution  of  the  government  equal  to 
one-third  thereof,  so  that  as  the  system  works  out,  the  employer  and 
employee  together  contribute  three- fourths  and  the  government  one- 
fourth,  the  employer  and  the  employee  dividing  their  contribution. 
These  small  weekly  payments  are  transmitted  through  the  post 
office,  which  sells  these  stamps,  into  an  unemployment  insurance 
fund,  the  total  amounting,  for  these  2,500,000  odd  workers,  to  just 
about  £2,500,000  a  year,  a  very  large  sum  of  money  in  the  aggre- 
gate, although  the  individual  payments  are  so  small.  If  the  in- 
sured worker  becomes  unemployed  he  receives  back  his  book  from 
his  employer  and  he  must  then  deposit  that  book,  with  the  stamps 
attached  to  it,  in  the  nearest  labor  exchange  or  insurance  office 
connected  with  the  labor  exchange;  and,  as  I  said,  there  is  now  a 
network  of  these  exchanges  and  insurance  offices  that  brings  one 
of  them  within  five  miles  of  every  considerable  group  of  workers 
in  the  United  Kingdom. 

During  the  first  week  of  unemployment  the  worker  can  claim  no 
benefit.    That  is  considered  a  waiting  period,  it  being  assumed  that 


288  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

most  workers  can  experience  unemployment  for  one  week  without 
very  great  hardship,  and  that  moreover,  that  would  save  so  much 
in  connection  with  the  administration  of  the  plan  and  in  other 
ways  that  the  hardships  must  perhaps  be  borne  for  the  first  week, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  larger  needs.  If  the  unemployment  continues 
after  the  first  week,  the  insured  worker  is  entitled  to  the  benefits 
under  the  system.  If  he  is  insured  only  through  the  national  insur- 
ance fund  this  benefit  is  seven  shillings  or  $1.75  a  week — a  sum  not 
very  large  from  our  point  of  view,  but  apparently  sufficient  in  Eng- 
land to  keep  a  family  from  outright  destitution  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions. If  the  worker  is  in  an  organized  trade  which  has  developed 
unemployment  insurance  by  itself  he  can  receive  in  addition  to  these 
seven  shillings  from  the  government  fund  as  much  more  as  the  trade 
union  will  provide  from  its  own  funds,  the  only  limitation  being  that 
the  trade  union  must  provide  at  least  one-quarter  of  the  total  amount 
received — that  being  necessary  to  give  the  trade  union  a  strong 
incentive  to  administer  the  plan  economically. 

There  are  limitations  of  the  period  during  which  this  unemploy- 
ment benefit  may  be  received.  Those  limitations  in  practice  have 
not  proved  a  very  serious  burden  on  wage-earners.  One  of  them,  for 
example,  is  that  no  one  may  draw  unemployment  benefit  for  more 
than  fifteen  weeks  in  any  year.  In  the  actual  experience  of  the  United 
Kingdom  last  year  30  per  cent  of  those  unemployed  found  em- 
ployment during  the  first  week;  69  per  cent  in  addition  found  re- 
employment  before  the  time  had  expired  during  which  they  might 
claim  unemployment  benefit;  so  that  only  i  per  cent  of  the  very 
large  number  of  men  who  were  employable  were  unemployed  so 
long  that  they  could  not  contiue  to  receive  this  unemployment 
benefit. 

The  purpose  of  the  whole  plan  is  to  provide  relief  for  honest 
wage-earners  who  want  work  and  not  charity,  and  in  administering 
this  relief  the  labor  exchanges,  of  course,  play  a  vital  role.  It  is 
through  them  that  the  worker  is  brought  into  touch  with  an  oppor- 
tunity to  work.  In  administering  that  part  of  the  system  the 
managers  of  these  exchanges  naturally  try  to  find  work  for  those 
who  need  it  most.  Of  course  they  have  to  consider  the  efficiency 
of  the  worker  and  his  qualifications  for  the  particular  job  that 
offers,  but  other  things  being  equal  they  would  give  the  work  to  the 
man  who  needed  it  most,  the  man  who  had  been  longest  unemployed. 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  289 

Consequently  though  the  limitation  to  fifteen  weeks  in  a  year  looks 
like  a  pretty  serious  limitation,  as  a  matter  of  actual  experience  it 
has  shut  out  of  benefits  only  i  per  cent  of  those  who  were  un- 
employed. 

In  connection  with  the  administration  of  any  such  plan  as  this 
there  are  very  serious  difficulties  to  be  met  and  solved.  One  of 
them  is  presented  by  labor  disputes.  The  government  cannot  very 
well  subsidize  strikers  and  in  that  way  take  sides  against  the  em- 
ployer. Therefore  it  merely  withdraws  from  the  arena  and  leaves 
it  to  the  trade  unions  to  provide  strike  benefits  for  their  members, 
and  when  the  strike  is  over  and  employment  is  resumed  those  who 
cannot  get  work  become  once  more  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the 
system. 

Another  difficulty  is  extending  a  system  of  this  kind  in  a  way 
that  will  not  discourage  trade  unions.  The  government  has  been 
extremely  careful,  instead  of  substituting  this  for  what  the  wage- 
earners  are  doing  themselves  through  their  organizations,  to  make 
it  a  supplement  to  what  the  wage-earners  are  doing.  This  is  shown 
most  clearly  by  the  special  provisions  for  those  organized  workers 
receiving  benefits  in  trades  that  are  not  brought  under  the  compul- 
sory provision  of  the  law.  The  government,  following  the  Ghent 
system,  offers  a  subsidy  to  trade  unions  in  trades  which  will  thus 
provide  unemployment  insurance.  The  government  contributes  not 
more  than  one-sixth  of  the  out-of-work  benefits  to  the  members  of 
trade  unions  in  trades  not  under  the  compulsory  section  of  the  act, 
and  this  amount  cannot  in  any  case  be  more  than  two  shillings  a 
week;  that  is,  the  maximum  amount  is  twelve  shillings  a  week  alto- 
gether, ten  shillings  from  the  trade  union  treasury  and  two  shillings 
from  the  government.  That  payment  is  a  subsidy  from  the  govern- 
ment itself,  and  is  a  meaus  of  encouraging  voluntary  insurance. 
When  the  act  went  into  effect  some  500,000  organized  workers  were 
in  trade  unions  that  paid  out-of-work  benefits.  That  number  has 
increased  to  over  a  million  in  this  comparatively  short  time,  as  a 
result  of  this  encouragement.  Along  with  it,  of  course,  is  a  certain 
amount  of  advice  and  supervision  to  see  that  the  trade  unions  adopt 
wise  plans — that  they  do  not,  for  instance,  promise  to  pay  larger 
benefits  than  they  can  afford  to  pay  from  the  dues  which  they  col- 
lect from  their  members. 

A  third  difficulty,  and  a  very  serious  one,  grows  out  of  the  fact 


290  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

that  unemployment  is  a  risk  to  which  we  are  quite  unequally  exposed. 
As  a  college  professor  I  am  in  an  occupation  where  the  risk  of 
unemployment  is  comparatively  slight.  The  same  is  true  of  indi- 
viduals even  in  occupations  which  are  highly  seasonal.  Some  indi- 
viduals, namely  the  highly  skilled,  steady-going  workers,  are  always 
worth  more  than  their  wages  to  their  employer,  and  therefore  the 
employer  is  very  reluctant  to  let  them  go.  In  the  present  period  of 
unemployment  we  have  found  cases  where  employers  were  keeping 
on  the  payroll  their  more  highly  paid  men  when  there  was  absolutely 
nothing  for  them  to  do,  as  a  better  alternative  than  not  to  have  the 
benefit  of  their  work  when  they  were  needed  in  turning  out  a  large 
volume  of  product.  The  steady-going,  trustworthy,  skilled  worker 
who  is  so  satisfactory  to  the  employer  that  he  is  the  last  man  to  be 
discharged,  would  be  at  somewhat  of  a  disadvantage  in  a  plan  that 
compelled  him  to  pay,  week  after  week,  these  contributions  to  an 
insurance  fund  when  the  chances  were  that  he  would  not  be  unem- 
ployed at  all.  Moreover,  he  is  the  man  who  would  be  likely  to  have 
a  savings  bank  account  to  look  forward  to  and  the  rainy  day  would 
look  to  him  like  a  period  of  needed  rest,  because  even  if  he  lost  one 
job  he  could  get  another  job  with  comparative  ease.  Tha  English 
plan  meets  that  difficulty  in  a  way  that  is  quite  satisfactory.  It 
provides  that  after  a  man  has  paid  in  500  weekly  contributions,  has 
been  insured  under  the  system  for  at  least  ten  years  and  has  reached 
the  age  of  sixty,  he  may  then  claim  a  refund  equal  to  all  that  he  has 
paid  in,  less  all  that  he  may  have  taken  out  during  periods  when  he 
has  been  unemployed,  with  compound  interest  at  2^2  per  cent.  For 
him  therefore  the  system  provides  unemployment  insurance  up  to  the 
age  of  sixty  and  government  guaranteed  savings  for  old  age  after 
the  age  of  sixty. 

A  fourth  feature  of  the  system,  which  in  my  judgment  is  per- 
haps the  shrewdest  feature  of  all  and  one  that  ought  to  commend 
it  to  thoughtful  people,  is  the  provision  that  employers  who  have 
kept  their  employees  employed  continuously,  week  after  week,  for  a 
year,  may  claim  a  refund  at  the  end  of  the  year  equal  to  one-third 
their  contribution.  That  gives  them  the  inducement,  which  our  em- 
ployers so  conspicuously  lack,  to  regularize  their  employment.  It 
makes  it  worth  while,  from  the  point  of  view  of  dollars  and  cents, 
for  an  employer  to  keep  a  stated  number  of  men  constantly  on  his 
payroll,  instead  of  constantly  dropping  men  and  taking  on  new 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  291 

men.  That  regularization  of  industry  is  an  indispensable  feature 
in  any  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem. 

Now  as  to  the  operation  of  this  system.  It  became  effective,  as 
regards  the  payment  of  benefits,  on  January  15,  1913.  The  only 
complete  report  that  has  yet  been  made  on  its  operation  covers  the 
first  six  months  of  last  year.  During  these  six  months  the  United 
Kingdom  enjoyed  unusual  general  prosperity,  and  the  conditions 
were  highly  favorable  to  the  success  of  the  system.  This  may  have 
been  due  to  some  extent  to  the  operation  of  these  labor  exchanges, 
which  brought  men  and  work  together  more  promptly,  but  it  was 
due  mainly,  undoubtedly,  to  other  causes.  Even  in  that  period  of 
general  prosperity  or  less  unemployment  on  the  whole  than  the 
country  had  known  for  the  preceding  thirty  years,  there  were  560,000 
applicants  for  unemployment  benefit,  and  it  was  estimated  that 
400,000  of  these  came  from  different  individuals,  that  is  to  say, 
every  one  in  five  to  one  in  six  of  these  men  and  women  who  were 
insured  under  the  system  became  unemployed  in  that  period,  at 
least  for  a  time.  That  means  a  shifting  about  in  these  industries, 
a  constant  changing  from  job  to  job.  That  one-fifth  of  the  workers 
in  these  trades,  in  a  period  of  unusual  prosperity,  should  have  suf- 
fered the  loss  and  inconvenience  and  anxiety  involved  in  changing 
from  one  job  to  another,  shows  what  a  chaotic  condition  our  indus- 
tries are  in  from  the  point  of  view  of  regularity  of  employment. 
In  this  country  the  proportionate  number  of  changes  must  have 
been  very  large.  That  part  of  the  national  insurance  plan  which 
makes  it  profitable  to  the  employer  to  keep  in  his  employ  the  same 
men  right  through  the  year,  tends  to  lessen  that  changing  from  job 
to  job,  to  the  benefit  of  all  concerned,  and  incidentally,  of  course, 
to  the  reduction  of  the  drains  on  the  insurance  fund,  because  the 
smaller  the  number  of  changes,  the  smaller  the  amount  of 
unemployment. 

Because  of  this  prosperity  the  payments  were  very  much  less  than 
the  government  had  estimated.  The  total  income  was  on  a  schedule  of 
£2,400,000  a  year.  The  total  payments  for  benefits  amounted  to 
only  £700,000.  In  this  period  the  government  accumulated  a  very 
substantial  surplus,  so  that  when  a  period  of  depression  conies 
there  will  be  a  reserve  fund  of  millions  of  pounds  sterling  to  draw 
upon  to  insure  the  continuance  of  the  unemployment  benefits.  The 
surplus  on  the  first  of  July  last  was  £  1,600,000,  and  it  has  been 
accumulating  since. 


292  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

On  the  financial  side,  then,  the  system  has  been  highly  suc- 
cessful— much  more  so  than  was  anticipated.  Moreover,  the  gentle- 
man who  deserves  the  greatest  credit  for  its  introduction  and 
administration,  Mr.  W.  H.  Beveridge,  the  director  of  the  labor 
exchanges  and  of  the  unemployment  insurance  work  on  the  board 
of  trade,  states  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  considerable  number 
of  frauds  upon  the  fund.  There  is  no  evidence  that  workers  are 
taking  advantage  of  the  system  to  get  payments  when  they  profess 
to  want  work ;  when  the  work  is  offered  them  they  take  it  and  show 
a  desire  to  have  the  work,  rather  than  to  have  the  payments.  That 
is  doubtless  for  two  reasons,  aside  from  the  essential  honesty  of 
the  average  man,  which  is  the  chief  reason : — first,  that  the  payment 
is  not  large  and  means  a  substantial  loss  of  income  to  the  wage- 
earner;  second,  that  with  the  limitation  on  the  number  of  weeks 
during  which  he  can  draw  the  out-of-work-benefit  in  a  single  year 
he  is  anxious  not  to  draw  the  benefit  for  too  many  weeks  when  he 
can  get  work,  because  he  may  happen  in  the  same  year  to  be  unable 
to  get  work,  and  will  then  have  drawn  all  the  benefits  he  is  entitled 
to  in  that  year.  So  the  workers  have  responded  to  the  system  in 
the  most  satisfactory  way. 

Now,  has  the  United  Kingdom  solved  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment? We  are  very  much  inclined  to  see  with  rose-colored  glasses 
things  that  are  happening  a  long  way  off.  Our  information  about 
them  really  comes  from  enthusiastic  advocates,  and  we  are  very 
easily  misled.  We  do  not  wish  to  make  any  extravagant  claim  for 
this  policy,  but  I  do  wish  to  say  that  it  seems  to  me  the  United 
Kingdom  is  on  the  road  to  a  solution  of  the  probem  of  unemployment. 

It  has  first  of  all  this  connected  chain  of  labor  exchanges  that 
connect  the  jobless  man  with  the  manless  job.  That  is  the  neces- 
sary basis  of  any  plan. 

Secondly,  it  has  these  distress  committees,  which  have  become 
more  and  more  efficient  as  time  has  gone  on,  and  who  are  devoting 
their  efforts  not  to  running  soup  kitchens,  but  in  trying  to  get 
employers  to  regularize  employment,  and  trying  to  adapt  public  work 
in  the  different  parts  of  England  so  that  that  will  take  up  the  slack 
when  private  industry  is  dull. 

Finally,  and  most  important,  it  has  this  system  of  unemployment 
insurance.  Those  embraced  in  this  system  can  now  look  forward 
to  unemployment  free  from  that  terrible  dread  and  anxiety  which 


English  Method  of  Dealing  With  Unemployed  293 

the  wage-earners  must  ordinarily  feel — free  from  the  fear  that 
through  it  they  will  be  reduced  to  outright  destitution,  that  they  will 
see  their  children  actually  wanting  for  bread.  For  those  under 
this  plan,  unemployment,  while  still  a  menace,  is  a  greatly  lessened 
one. 

We  in  America  are  at  present  under  a  cloud  of  unemployment. 
Just  how  terrible  that  cloud  is  is  a  matter  of  difference  of  opinion, 
as  has  been  brought  out  in  our  sessions  this  morning  and  afternoon. 
In  closing  I  would  like  to  express  the  hope  that  the  silver  lining 
of  that  cloud  may  prove  to  be  such  an  arousing  of  public  opinion 
to  this  evil  that  measures  will  be  taken  in  this  country  that  will 
soon  put  us  abreast  of  the  best  that  is  being  done  in  Europe,  and 
enable  us  to  take  the  lead  as  regards  this  evil,  as  we  have,  I  am 
happy  to  say,  as  regards  some  evils  that  have  troubled  us  in  the  past. 


THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  UNEMPLOYMENT 


CHARLES  RICHMOND  HENDERSON 
Secretary,  Chicago  Commission  on  Unemployment 


We  have  just  heard  an  admirable  description  of  the  largest  and 
most  complete  system  of  meeting  the  problem  of  unemployment. 
But  our  problem  in  America  is  a  very  different  one  from  that  of 
Great  Britain  or  Germany  or  France.  Our  problem  is  to  make  people 
feel  that  we  have  a  problem  at  all.  I  do  not  mean  those  of  us 
who  are  out  of  a  job — they  know  very  well  what  it  means  to  be 
unemployed — but  our  people  who  are  in  comfort.  I  am  not  saying 
that  they  have  not  pity  and  humanity  and  justice — that  is  not  true. 
Some  one  has  said  of  America,  however,  that  characteristically 
America  is  generous,  large-hearted  and  sympathetic  when  it  thinks ; 
but  very  often  it  does  not  think. 

This  conference  is  the  first  national  conference  to  face  this 
awful  problem  of  unemployment.  The  reason  why  this  prob- 
lem did  not  come  home  to  Americans  at  once,  or  so  early  as  it 
came  home  to  the  people  of  Europe,  is  made  plain  in  a  letter  which 
I  hold  in  my  hand  from  M.  Leon  Bourgeois,  former  minister  of 
France  and  president  of  the  International  Association  on  Social 
Insurance  and  also  of  the  International  Association  on  Unemploy- 
ment. In  this  letter  he  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  hitherto 
in  America  there  has  always  been  room  further  on.  In  this  great 
city  once  a  great  man  said,  "Young  man,  go  west."  Now  the  ques- 
tion is  where  the  west  lies.  We  have  gone  on  along  toward  the 
west  until  the  only  step  that  is  left  is  to  step  out  into  the  Pacific 
ocean. 

We  feel  also  that  with  better  methods  and  better  adjustment  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  remain  nearer  to  the  scenes  with  which  we  have 
grown  familiar,  for  I  presume  that  most  of  us  are  like  the  Colorado 
man  who  asked  the  visiting  Bostonian  how  he  could  bear  to  live 
so  far  away  from  home.  We  want  sometimes  to  choose  our  homes. 
Many  of  us  are  not  easily  moved  about.  Some  are  moved  about 
until  at  last  they  get  the  roving  habit,  the  homeless  man's  habit. 


The  Struggle  Against  Unemployment  295 

It  is  bad  enough  to  be  out  of  a  job,  bad  enough  to  be  unemployed 
alone; — it  is  worse  still  to  be  unemployed  with  a  dear  wife  and 
little  children  roaming  in  the  cold  and  sleet  and  saying,  "Daddy,  can't 
I  have  something  to  eat  ?"  To  see  that,  to  feel  that  once  as  a  human 
being,  makes  this  not  a  bare  scientific  and  statistical  and  local  prob- 
lem, but  a  problem  of  the  human  heart,  of  human  tragedy.  And 
there  is  something  worse  than  to  be  merely  unemployed.  Oh,  to 
see  the  bread  line  in  our  great  cities,  to  see  these  young  men  who  at 
first,  without  any  fault  of  theirs,  were  forced  on  from  place  to  place 
until  at  last  they  not  only  could  not  get  a  job,  but  could  not  hold  a 
job  when  they  got  it !  They  had  become  unemployable  through  hav- 
ing been  unemployed  so  long.  That  is  the  tragedy  of  life! 

We  are  here  in  this  great  city,  this  center  of  intellectual  and  finan- 
cial power,  to  discuss  with  you  and  to  carry  back  to  the  Golden 
Gate  and  to  the  south  and  middle  west  a  definite  program  on  this 
subject,  based  on  the  experience  of  the  past  and  the  needs  of  our 
country.  A  plan  of  battle  is  what  we  have  come  here  to  gain  and 
to  diffuse,  a  program  practical,  common-sense,  based  on  facts  of 
experience,  to  carry  back  with  the  enthusiasm  of  conviction.  Some 
people  say  of  this  problem,  "It  is  as  old  as  our  civilization  and  you 
cannot  do  anything  about  it — you  cannot  solve  it  at  all."  But  we 
believe  that  if  this  is  a  problem  for  men  to  confront,  if  this  is  a 
battle  to  be  fought,  then,  because  it  is  difficult  and  long,  we  should 
begin  at  once,  and  carry  it  on  until  we  gain  the  victory,  as  we  have 
over  other  great  evils  in  the  past.  We  have  fought  with  the  evil 
of  tuberculosis,  of  typhoid,  and  we  feel  that  we  have  conquered  them. 
Why  are  we  to  say  that  we  cannot  take  hold  of  this  gigantic  ser- 
pent evil  and  throttle  it?  We  who  have  fought  the  battle  of  the 
union  to  free  the  slaves  of  the  south,  cannot  we  free  ourselves 
as  a  nation  of  this  evil?  When  men  are  suffering  and  their  wives 
and  babies  are  crying  for  bread  and  shelter,  it  is  no  time  for  a 
man  with  red  blood  in  his  veins  to  say,  "It  is  something  we  cannot 
help!  It  has  always  been  and  always  will  be."  There  are  a  great 
many  things  that  always  have  been  and  which  ought  not  to  be,  and 
by  the  help  of  Almighty  God  shall  not  be !  Antiquity  does  not  give 
respectability  to  misery;  antiquity  does  not  make  sacred  the  wrong. 
If  this  is  wrong,  then  let  us,  as  brothers  and  sisters,  work  together 
until  the  problem  is  solved. 

The  preceding  speaker  has  told  you  of  how  Great  Britain  has 
tackled  the  problem  and  is  in  the  way  of  conquering  in  this  battle 


296  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

with  unemployment.  "Oh  yes,"  it  is  said,  "they  can  do  that 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic — in  Germany,  because  they  are 
accustomed  to  being  led  about,  in  England  because  they  are 
used  to  being  managed!"  Now,  we  either  were  born  in  this  coun- 
try or  have  adopted  it  as  our  country,  and  we  are  not  here  to  say 
that  there  is  any  government  on  earth  that  can  do  better  than  the 
government  that  we  make  for  ourselves.  Democracy  is  an  awkward 
thing  to  get  along  with ;  but  when  it  gets  there  it  stays.  Some  one 
has  described  a  monarchy  as  being  a  good  deal  better  master  or 
administrator  than  a  republic.  But  we  cannot  go  back,  we  must  go 
on.  A  monarchy  is  like  a  great  ship.  It  sails  over  the  sea,  it  is  not 
afraid  of  wind  or  tide;  but  if  it  strikes  a  rock  it  goes  down  at 
once  with  all  on  board.  A  republic  is  like  a  huge  rock;  you  cannot 
sink  it,  although  your  feet  may  be  always  in  the  water. 

We  frequently  have  in  our  western  cities  a  kind  of  municipal 
administration  that  we  do  not  quite  like.  We  have  out  there  what 
we  call  "graft";  perhaps  you  have  heard  of  it  here  in  New  York. 
They  say  you  cannot  administer  such  public  enterprises  as  we  are 
talking  about  here,  because  they  will  get  into  "politics."  Politics 
is  a  good  word,  and  if  anybody  has  fastened  on  it  any  bad  meanings, 
let  us  scrape  them  off  and  have  pure  politics — just  politics.  If  we 
cannot  manage  our  machinery  as  it  stands,  then  I  say  we  would 
better  crawl  out  of  this  country.  We  have  no  business  here  if 
we  cannot  believe  in  our  country  and  in  the  possibilities  of  its 
institutions.  x 

We  are  undertaking  a  great  task,  which  will  put  to  the  strain  all 
the  business  ability,  all  the  political  sagacity,  and  all  the  adminis- 
trative skill  that  this  great  country  can  command.  But  the  skill 
and  ability  and  the  sagacity  are  here,  and  you  can  count  on  them 
in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  in  those  days  that  I  remember  in  my  boy- 
hood, when  brave  men  went  out  to  battle  for  unity  and  for  liberty. 

To-day  we  have  heard  from  men  of  all  shades  of  political  belief, 
but  we  have  unity  on  certain  great  and  definite  principles  which  may 
be  worked  out  in  detail  afterward.  To  some  of  those  principles  let 
me  call  your  attention. 

Mr.  Lieserson,  who  is  one  of  our  best  young  administrators  in 
this  field,  told  us  to-day,  "Begin  with  this  simple  thing,  and  stick 
to  it  until  you  get  it  done :  make  a  record  of  every  man  who  applies 
for  a  job;  put  him  down— his  name  and  his  address.  Put  down 
also  every  position  that  you  get."  What  good  will  that  do?  It 


The  Struggle  Against  Unemployment  297 

won't  make  any  jobs?  No.  But  suppose  you  have  100,000  men 
in  a  state  who  have  come  and  said,  "I  want  work,"  but  there  are 
only  95,000  places,  and  for  5,000  there  are  no  places.  Well,  if  I 
am  going  to  starve  to  death,  I,  for  one,  want  to  know  it  as  soon  as 
possible.  I  do  not  want  to  wear  out  my  shoe  leather  finding  out 
that  I  must  starve.  It  is  not  my  object  to  go  up  and  down  the  streets 
until  my  clothing  is  in  tatters  and  my  strength  has  given  out  and 
my  hope  and  manhood  are  impaired.  I  am  ready  to  serve  the  com- 
munity; if  the  community  has  work  for  me,  let  me  know  it.  If 
there  is  work  for  me  in  one  single  place  in  a  city  let  me  know  it, 
and  if  in  this  wide  land  there  is  no  room  for  me,  and  the  people  say 
"starve,"  then  starve  I  must.  But  I  want  to  know  it ;  I  do  not  want 
to  be  driven  down  into  desperation.  I  would  rather  die  now  than 
go  through  what  I  have  seen  thousands  of  our  young  men  go  through 
in  the  bread  lines  of  our  cities. 

But  you  haven't  any  figures.  People  say  there  are  so  and  so 
many  thousands  of  people  out  of  a  job.  You  should  have  heard 
the  guesses  to-day  as  to  the  number !  I  think  it  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  specimens  of  guess-work  I  have  ever  heard  in  my  life. 
They  all  had  down  in  black  and  white  that  there  were  300,000  men 
out  of  a  job  in  New  York  city,  and  the  mayor  said,  "I  don't  believe 
it."  Then  some  other  people  said  "You  are  a  liar  if  you  don't 
believe  it !"  Nobody  knows ;  therefore  everybody  can  guess.  Adopt, 
then,  this  little  first  principle,  which  we  understand,  and  which  you 
will  find  probably  in  our  resolutions  to-morrow,  that  every  man 
who  applies  shall  be  registered.  Then  the  public  will  guess  no 
longer — they  will  know. 

Now  for  these  remaining  5,000  out  of  the  100,000  there  is  either 
room  on  this  planet  or  there  is  not.  Let  us  call  on  the  federal  gov- 
ernment and  ask  it  to  distribute  such  labor  as  there  is  to  be  dis- 
tributed, and  not  hand  it  over  to  padrones. 

I  am  not  going  to  discuss  to-night  the  problem  of  immigration. 
But  this  I  do  say,  that  if  we  do  invite  and  permit  men  to  come  over 
from  Europe  to  work  for  us,  we  cannot  hand  them  over  to  be 
destroyed  by  those  who  leach  upon  them  and  suck  their  blood. 
It  is  our  duty  to  rise  to  our  responsibility,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
shore  take  them  to  the  places  where  they  must  go,  and  see  that 
from  the  very  moment  they  enter  our  country  the  stars  and  stripes 
stand  for  truth,  veracity,  justice, — rather  than  for  imposition  and 
fraud  and  destruction. 


298  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

To  do  this  work  properly,  we  must  have  local  employment  agen- 
cies managed  by  society,  and  not  by  private  parties;  not  local 
agencies  as  they  are  now,  miserable,  futile  things,  without  scientific 
records,  without  adequate  resources  to  advertise  to  make  it  known 
that  they  exist,  and  without  means  to  send  a  man  to  the  job  where 
the  work  is  to  be  done,  when  he  is  penniless.  And  we  hope  to  make 
local,  state  and  federal  agencies  that  will  be  worthy  of  us  as  a 
people,  and  adequate,  complete,  sufficient  for  the  task  which  we 
shall  impose  upon  them. 

For  another  thing,  we  shall  in  times  of  prosperity,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, say  to  our  governments,  federal,  state,  and  municipal,  "Look 
ahead  a  little.  You  know  that  the  times  of  hardship  will  come. 
Spread  your  contracts  over  ten-year  periods,  provide  your  plans 
and  finances  for  them."  It  was  my  duty,  as  secretary  of  our  Chicago 
commission  which  has  been  studying  this  matter  betwen  two  and 
three  years,  to  write  to  the  mayors  of  our  great  cities  and  the 
presidents  of  our  great  railways.  Every  one  of  the  mayors  said 
that  he  could  not  do  such  a  thing — not  one  single  president  of  a  great 
railway  thought  it  could  be  done.  But  they  gather  their  men  from 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  bringing  them  together  by  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands, and  discharging  them — and  what  happens  ?  A  man  may  have 
a  job,  but  he  does  have  a  stomach — he  must  eat.  And  when  the 
wages  stop,  what  then?  He  ought  to  save  up  money,  enough  to 
protect  him  at  such  time?  Sometimes  he  ought.  That  is  true  of 
some  of  us — it  is  true  of  myself.  But  I  do  not  apply  it  to  the  man 
who  gets  $1.50  and  $1.75  a  day,  already  living  within  the  $700 
minimum  limit  on  which  a  family  can  exist  decently  in  our  country. 
How  could  he  save  unless  he  robs  his  body  and  the  bodies  of  his 
children  of  what  they  ought  to  have?  He  could  not  do  it.  Then, 
I  say,  if  you  cannot  spread  the  work  over  several  years  by  careful 
planning,  we  must  provide  something  else.  We  have  heard  about 
that  to-night  because  Great  Britain  has  done  it. 

Some  political  economists  have  said,  "You  can  do  it,  but  then,  you 
know,  it  would  spoil  the  character  of  these  working  people."  I  wish 
I  had  adequate  language  to  express  myself.  But  I  cannot  pay  my 
respects  to  that  way  of  looking  at  things,  because  my  mother  taught 
me  not  to  swear. 

But  there  are  times  when  there  are  no  jobs  to  be  had.  Well, 
Emerson  has  said  that  every  man  is  as  lazy  as  he  dares  to  be.  Let 
us  be  frank,  my  friends,  it  is  not  always  the  job  you  want  so  much, 


The  Struggle  Against  Unemployment  299 

it  is  the  money  to  buy  bread  and  clothes.  And  there  are  times  when 
you  cannot  work.  If  it  is  because  of  sickness,  let  us  have  sickness 
insurance ;  if  it  is  because  of  accident,  let  us  have  accident  insurance ; 
if  it  is  because  of  old  age,  let  us  have  old-age  insurance;  and  for 
unemployment  let  us  pile  up  the  fund  when  we  are  all  at  work — 
then  the  money  will  be  there  when  the  time  of  need  comes. 

We  are  just  getting  started.  As  Professor  Seager  has  said,  the 
trade  unions  have  taught  the  nation  how  to  do  it,  and  we  are  going  to 
take  the  idea  which  the  workingmen  of  Europe  and  America 
wrought  out,  and  nationalize  it  for  the  workingmen  of  the  whole 
country. 

The  complete  outline  of  the  plan  is  now  before  us.  I  want  to 
dwell  upon  only  one  point  more.  When  all  of  us  are  paying  into 
an  unemployment  insurance  fund  the  "captains  of  industry"  will 
have  to  earn  their  title.  It  is  not  enough  to  manage  men  and  things 
so  as  to  make  money.  We  are  beginning  to  feel  the  burden  of  it, 
and  the  inspiration  of  it — that  to  be  a  captain  of  industry  it  is  not 
enough  to  bring  men  and  machinery  and  raw  material  together 
and  make  profits !  Out  of  that  must  come  another  profit,  and  that 
is  MANHOOD — manhood  not  for  a  class,  but  for  a  nation.  And 
when  we  have  taken  that  ground,  when  we  have  seen  that  accom- 
plished— then  we  will  look  ahead  further,  and  will  plan  so  that  not 
only  will  a  maximum  of  profit  be  ensured,  but  a  maximum  of 
manhood  will  still  remain. 

And  so  we  are  among  you  to  discuss  these  matters,  and  when  we 
have  parted  from  you  we  shall  carry  away  with  us  the  inspiring 
message  that  comes,  we  are  sure,  from  your  hearts  also,  that  in  our 
federal,  state  and  municipal  governments  we  shall  band  ourselves 
together  for  the  combat  against  the  common  foe,  the  foe  of  our 
nation,  of  all  civilization.  In  this  work  every  intelligent  man  shall 
have  his  part  and  all  of  us  shall  glory  in  the  result,  and  hand  down 
to  those  who  are  to  come  after  us  a  better  life,  a  joyous,  beautiful 
life, — not  a  life  of  riches  for  a  few,  but  of  opportunity  for  all,  of 
safety  for  all  in  time  of  accident,  sickness  and  old-age.  Then  no 
longer  shall  man  hear  the  howl  of  the  wolf  and  the  scratch  of  his 
feet  against  the  door,  but  the  howls  shall  be  removed  far  away, 
until  they  shall  die  in  the  dim  distance,  and  a  new  scene  shall  arise, 
and  there  shall  be  a  united  nation,  with  each  man  standing  for  all 
men,  and  all  men  standing  for  each. 


THE  GERMAN  SYSTEM  OF  LABOR  EXCHANGES 


FREDERICK  C.  HOWE 
Director,  Peoples'  Institute 


I  am  glad  that  Professor  Henderson  fixed  the  discussion  of  this 
problem  on  so  high  a  plane.  I  am  glad,  too,  that  he  expressed  so 
much  confidence  in  democracy  and  in  the  American  people.  I  al- 
ways like  to  hear  the  prevalent  suggestion  challenged,  "Oh,  Germany 
can  do  these  things,  yes,  and  England  can  do  these  things,  but  we 
in  America  cannot  do  these  things."  For  I  know  from  what  we  have 
already  done,  that  when  a  democracy,  when  the  people  once  free 
themselves  from  the  tyranny  of  privileged  interests,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  from  an  antiquated  and  almost  insurmountable  political  ma- 
chinery on  the  other,  America  will  do  things  better  than  Europe  has 
even  thought  of.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  It  is  impossible  for  a 
free  people,  in  whom  the  effects  of  advancement  of  ideas  and 
thoughts  have  been  felt,  not  to  do  better  than  any  of  the  countries 
of  Europe,  no  matter  how  efficient  they  may  temporarily  be. 

I  believe  in  the  right  to  work.  I  believe  in  the  right  of  a  man 
to  be  free  from  private  charity.  I  believe  the  right  to  work  ought 
to  be  included  with  those  three  fundamental  rights  of  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  For  of  what  possible  value  are  these  three 
rights  of  a  man  on  the  bread-line,  to  a  man  who  has  to  go  petition- 
ing to  a  private  charity  for  the  right  to  live,  when  his  spirit  craves 
for  work?  For  we  all  want  to  work.  We  want  the  work  that  our 
instincts,  our  training,  we  ourselves  demand.  And  I  do  think  that 
the  time  will  come — and  come  quicker  in  America  than  in  Germany 
or  in  England — when  we  shall  recognize  that  a  man  has  no  right  to 
be  degraded  when  he  wants  the  dignity  of  self-respect  and  work. 

We  all  recognize  that  these  questions  we  are  considering  to-night 
do  not  solve  the  industrial  problem;  for  the  industrial  problem  is 
largely  traceable  to  the  fact  that  there  are  more  men  seeking  jobs 
than  there  are  jobs  seeking  men;  and  until  we  create  a  condition 
where  there  are  more  jobs  than  men,  labor  will  be  at  a  disadvantage — 
it  will  be  the  weak  brother  in  the  contract. 


The  German  System  of  Labor  Exchanges  301 

But  that  is  no  reason  why  we  should  decline  to  take  the  next, 
and  to  my  mind  very  important  steps ;  -for  society  will  progress  in 
the  future,  just  as  it  has  in  the  past.  There  will  be  no  violent  leaps 
— no  great  chasms  between  to-day  and  to-morrow.  It  seems  to  me 
clear  that  society  must  progress  as  a  child  learns  to  walk  and  as  a 
man  learns  to  run.  We  must  proceed  from  this  step  to  the  next; 
and  the  first  steps,  and  important  steps,  are  those  which  have  been 
taken  so  successfully  by  monarchical  Germany. 

The  labor  question  is  not  new  in  Germany.  It  has  existed  there 
for  thirty  years.  It  was  recognized  by  Bismarck's  social  legislation, 
inspired  partly  by  the  desire  to  check  the  Socialists,  partly  by  the 
scientific  intelligence  with  which  Germany  approaches  her  problems. 
The  distinguishing  thing  about  this  legislation  in  Germany  is  its 
absolute  sincerity.  In  that  respect  I  think  it  differs  from  much  of 
the  labor  legislation  in  the  United  States. 

But  this,  to  me,  is  the  interesting  part  of  it.  If  you  go  into  a 
German  factory,  or  German  labor  exchange,  or  any  place  where 
working  men  gather  together  in  Germany,  the  men  look  at  you  with 
a  different  look  in  their  eyes  than  they  have  in  England,  than  they 
have  in  the  bread-line  of  the  American  cities.  Germany  has  saved 
the  self-respect  of  her  people,  and  that  is  the  dearest  possession  of 
all.  Even  the  worthless  man  is  not  so  bad  as  one  who  has  lost  his 
self-respect.  A  man  who  has  lost  his  self-respect  has  lost  caste 
even  with  his  fellows,  and  it  does  not  take  many  days  or  weeks  for 
the  self-respecting  mechanic,  who  may  have  been  earning  $4  or  $5 
or  $6  a  day,  to  lose  caste  with  himself,  because  he  is  not  making 
good.  He  leaves  his  family  and  drops  into  tramping — he  takes  to 
the  road.  He  feels  just  as  any  man  does,  in  any  class  of  life — no 
matter  even  if  he  is  not  responsible  for  his  failure. 

Germany  has  taken  precautions  against  this,  intelligently,  scien- 
tifically and  humanely,  I  think.  They  have  a  commission  there; 
and  in  the  last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  a  number  of  legislative 
acts  have  been  directed  to  the  efficiency,  improvement,  betterment 
of  the  all-round  life  of  the  working  class.  Two  or  three  years  ago  I 
was  in  Frankfort,  and  I  went  to  dinner  in  the  Rathskeller  one 
evening.  The  waiter  had  been  in  America  and  recognized  me,  and 
I  asked  him  why  he  had  left  this  country.  Well,  he  said,  he  was 
out  of  work  in  America,  and  he  went  first  to  a  boarding  house,  and 
then  to  the  lodging  house,  and  finally  he  got  back  to  Germany.  "I 


302  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

don't  get  very  much  pay  here,"  he  said,  "but  I  am  sure  of  a  pension, 
I  am  sure  that  in  case  of  accident  I  will  receive  a  small  payment. 
I  live,  by-the-way,  in  a  municipal  lodging  house  and  I  am  happy 
here  and  there  is  no  fear  for  to-morrow,  of  sickness  or  old  age, 
the  fear  that  haunted  men  whom  I  knew  in  America.  And  that," 
he  said,  "is  why  men  do  not  leave  Germany  any  more.  They  are 
not  even  lured  by  the  high  wages;  for  they  are  happier,  more 
comfortable,  more  secure  at  home." 

A  few  days  later  I  was  in  Berlin  and  I  went  to  the  labor  exchange 
which  has  been  conducted  there  for  nearly  twenty-five  years.  It 
is  maintained  partly  by  the  state,  partly  by  the  municipality.  It  is 
a  great  four-story  building,  rather  comfortable.  By  mistake  I 
got  into  the  women's  department,  which  opened  on  one  street,  and 
I  was  courteously  told  to  go  to  the  other  side.  Then  I  got  into 
the  unskilled  department.  It  was  a  great  hall,  capable  of  seating 
1,400  men.  There  were  probably  800  men  sitting  on  the  benches, 
which  were  arranged  across  the  hall.  In  the  opposite  side  was  a 
restaurant  where  for  two  or  three  cents  a  small  luncheon  could  be 
secured — beer  was  served,  sandwiches  and  the  universal  sausage. 
Right  next  to  this  was  a  cobbler's  booth,  where  for  two  or  three  cents 
a  man  could  have  his  shoes  repaired.  Nearby  was  a  tailor  who 
repaired  the  men's  clothes  at  a  small  charge.  Downstairs  was  a 
public  bath  house  and  laundry,  and  elsewhere  in  the  building  was 
a  dispensary  to  which  men  went  who  were  sick  or  ailing.  On  the 
other  side  was  the  women's  department,  which  was  largely  for 
domestic  service  and  for  women  engaged  in  industries,  while  up- 
stairs was  a  department  for  the  skilled  workers. 

After  a  time  I  went  back  to  the  large  hall  where  the  unskilled 
workers  were  gathered,  and  sat  among  them  and  watched  the  men 
playing  checkers,  backgammon,  chess  and  cards.  They  seemed  to 
treat  this  great  institution  as  a  club.  The  thing  that  surprised  me 
was  that  in  Berlin,  a  city  of  two  million  people,  almost  all  the  men 
looked  so  well,  looked  so  self-respecting.  They  were  not  oppressed 
as  I  expected  to  find  the  workless  men  of  a  great  city,  and  as  I 
had  seen  them  in  London,  oppressed  by  the  hopelessness  of  life. 
They  were  not  unlike  any  other  gathering  of  600  or  700  men.  They 
laughed  and  joked  and  played,  and  seemed  to  expect,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  that  within  a  few  hours,  or  days  at  the  most,  the  clerk 
at  the  other  end  of  the  room  would  call  out  their  names  and  they 
would  get  a  job. 


The  German  System  of  Labor  Exchanges  303 

At  the  far  end  of  the  room  there  was  a  long  table  with  clerks, 
and  to  those  clerks  calls  came  from  all  over  Berlin.  The  clerk  took 
out  his  card  catalogue,  ran  through  it,  and  took  out  the  name  of  the 
first  married  man  on  the  list  who  was  fitted  for  the  job.  The  mar- 
ried man  was  chosen  in  preference  to  the  unmarried  man.  He 
called  him  to  the  desk  and  questioned  him  and  found  out  whether 
he  was  fitted  to  take  that  job  or  not;  and  if  all  was  satisfactory  he 
gave  the  man  a  card  and  told  him  to  report  to  the  employer,  with 
whom,  if  conditions  were  satisfactory,  he  made  a  contract.  If  he 
was  not  satisfied  he  returned  and  reported  at  the  desk,  and  his  name 
was  put  on  the  list  again. 

In  the  course  of  a  year  that  exchange  found  120,000  jobs  for 
jobless  men,  for  men  who  would  have  wasted  shoe  leather  and 
valuable  time  coursing  up  and  down  the  streets  of  the  city,  and 
more  important  still,  they  would  probably  have  gotten  into  the 
wrong  jobs.  That  is  the  terrible  waste — that  waste  is  almost  as 
great  as  that  of  temporary  unemployment.  Through  this  great 
clearing  house,  by  classifying  the  jobs  and  classifying  the  men,  the 
$4  man  gets  into  a  $4  job,  and  so  is  able  to  produce  to  his  maxi- 
mum; while  the  $2  man  gets  a  $2  job. 

Such  a  system  is  the  means  also  of  preserving  whatever  training 
or  skill  a  man  might  have  spent  his  life  in  acquiring.  Each  state 
has  sixty  labor  exchanges — between  400  and  500  separate  municipal 
exchanges  scattered  all  over  Germany.  They  find  jobs  all  told  for 
over  a  million  men  and  women  a  year.  If  men  are  wanted  in  one 
place  they  are  sent  from  another  place.  In  each  capital  city  there 
is  a  capital  clearing  house  to  which  reports  are  made.  Firms  are 
supplied  with  men  during  thei'r  seasonal  needs.  This  is  one  of  many 
ways  in  which  Germany  has  taken  the  first  step  toward  reducing 
the  costs  of  modern  industry — the  costs  that  society  ought  to  bear. 
Society  ought  to  pay  for  that  cost,  which  we  do  not  pay  for  under 
existing  conditions. 

But  Germany  does  a  lot  of  other  things,  all  directed  to  the  same 
intelligent  end.  Each  city  has  a  lodging  house — not  the  kind  of 
municipal  house  that  we  know  about,  that  you  would  be  ashamed 
to  be  seen  in — but  a  clean,  attractive  place  to  which  any  wandering, 
self-respecting  laboring  man  is  willing  to  go.  For  the  state  says, 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  industry  to  have  men  wander  from  place  to 
place.  It  is  a  good  thing,  and  industry  would  suffer  if  they  did  not. 


304  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

So,  say  the  Germans,  if  it  is  a  good  thing  for  men  to  wander,  we 
will  make  wandering  easy  by  making  it  easy  to  find  a  lodging  house. 
But  we  in  America  reverse  that  practice.  We  say  a  man  without  a 
job  is  a  vagrant,  and  if  he  wanders  from  place  to  place  without  any 
visible  means  of  support  he  is  frequently  arrested  and  sent  to  the 
workhouse,  because  he  is  seeking  work.  We  punish  him,  fine  him, 
imprison  him  for  the  vicissitudes  of  industry.  Well,  Germany  is 
more  humane  in  that  regard  than  we  are,  and  far  more  intelligent. 

Around  about  these  Herrberger,  as  they  call  them — lodging 
houses — ,  they  give  men  temporary  work,  and  if  after  a  few  days' 
time  they  do  not  find  a  job  in  that  town  they  are  sent  on  to  another. 
A  man  told  me  that  all  over  southern  Germany  men  had  ceased  to 
be  tramps,  that  Germany  had  so  organized  this  wonderful  industrial 
machine  that  for  the  most  part  a  peg  was  placed  in  its  hole  with 
the  minimum  of  waste  to  society  and  to  the  men. 

And  think  what  it  means  to  a  million  wives,  to  have  a  million 
men  find  jobs!  It  means  home  saved,  children  protected,  all  society 
growing  up  to  a  higher  state  of  efficiency  and  comfort  than  would 
otherwise  have  been  possible. 

Now,  I  don't  think  that  in  Germany  they  realize  the  ideal  state 
of  society  by  any  means.  They  have  not  recognized  the  right  to 
work;  they  have  not  produced  more  jobs;  but  they  have  arranged 
so  that  ninety  or  ninety-five  men  out  of  a  hundred  find  the  jobs 
for  which  they  are  fitted,  with  the  least  possible  friction  and  delay. 
I  am  content  to  believe  that  we  must  proceed  in  that  way  much 
more  rapidly  than  we  have  in  the  past,  and  the  experiences  of  the 
last  four  or  five  years  demonstrate  that  we  will  so  proceed.  But 
Germany  has  made  a  demonstration  that  to  me  is  sufficient,  just  as 
Denmark  has  made  a  demonstration  that  to  me  is  sufficient,  that 
poverty  can  be  cured,  but  that  it  can  be  cured  only  by  law. 

We  have  already  proceeded  to  exterminate  disease  by  hygiene, 
and  other  legitimate  methods.  This  is  the  next  step  in  the  social 
program:  the  cure  and  extermination  of  involuntary  poverty  by 
law. 


GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

A  VOICE:  Why  does  not  the  government  of  this  country  limit 
the  misleading  advertisements  of  American  conditions  appearing  in 
all  the  southern  and  eastern  European  papers,  which  bring  people 
here  in  ship-loads  into  a  market  where  there  are  already  too  many? 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER:  I  am  glad  to  say  that  the  government  is 
trying  to  stop  this  practice;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  regulate  things 
that  do  not  happen  in  this  country. 

A  VOICE:  One  of  the  speakers  said  to-night  that  cholera  has 
been  wiped  out,  and  small-pox,  and  tuberculosis  are  being  wiped 
out,  and  that  unemployment  can  be  wiped  out  in  the  same  way  if 
we  all  get  to  work  at  it.  Now  I  want  to  tell  you  that  cholera  and 
small-pox  and  tuberculosis  have  been  wiped  out  because  they  are  no 
respecters  of  victims.  The  germs  of  cholera  and  small-pox  find 
their  way  into  the  homes  of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  homes  of  the 
poor;  and  it  is  to  the  interest  of  all,  rich  and  poor,  to  get  together 
and  wipe  out  cholera  and  small-pox ;  but  it  is  not  to  the  interest  of 
the  rich  to  wipe  out  unemployment.  It  is  to  the  interest  of  one 
class  to  see  that  there  is  an  army  of  unemployed.  It  is  the  importa- 
tion of  underpaid  labor  which  is  responsible  for  our  condition.  In 
other  words,  you  cannot  solve  unemployment  as  long  as  there  are 
people  who  are  remunerated  for  no  services  rendered. 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER:  I  should  say  that  the  answer  to  the  gentle- 
man's statement  is  that  the  workers  are  the  ones,  after  all,  who 
must  find  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

A  VOICE:  Alexander  Law  to-day  made  an  address  in  which  he 
stated  that  the  subways  are  overworking  the  employees,  and  he 
insisted  on  an  eight-hour  schedule.  That  struck  home  to  me.  I 
believe  that  that  is  an  important  point.  How  can  it  be  obtained? 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER:  That  might  be  obtained  by  legislation, 
through  the  state  legislature — if  the  courts  would  uphold  an  eight 
hour  day.  They  have  upheld  other  hour  limits  on  railroads  and 
public  service  companies,  but  the  legislature  as  yet  has  not  tried  an 
eight-hour  day.  I  think  that  is  the  direction  in  which  we  are  mov- 
ing, and  perhaps  it  is  the  solution  that  we  will  sometime  gain. 


306  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

A  VOICE  :  Don't  you  think  it  is  necessary  for  the  government  to 
take  over  the  railroads,  the  telephone  and  the  telegraph  lines,  so 
that  they  might  be  managed  interlocking  with  the  labor  exchanges, 
as  in  Germany? 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER  :  That  has  not  been  necessary  in  other  coun- 
tries. In  Canada,  for  example,  the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad 
transports  workers  from  the  east  to  the  west  free  of  charge. 

A  VOICE:  There  is  only  one  remedy  for  the  unemployed — and 
that  is  -for  the  unemployed  to  get  educated  to  the  fact  and  fitted 
industrially  and  politically  to  overthrow  the  rotten  system  in  this 
rotten  country;  to  take  the  land,  get  possession  thereof,  to  own 
their  own  jobs ! 

A  VOICE  :  Is  there  any  fixed  policy  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  on  this  subject,  and  if  so  what  is  it? 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER  :  As  far  as  I  know,  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  has  no  definite  program  with  reference  to  this  subject, 
except  the  general  policy  of  shortening  the  workday,  and  in  that 
way  enlarging  the  field  of  employment. 

A  VOICE:  Is  there  any  one  thing  more  than  another,  that  will 
prevent  the  disrespect  for  the  working  class  by  the  ruling  class  ?  Is 
there  anything  more  disrespectful  than  the  method  of  handling  our 
unemployed  and  bread-liners  which  has  been  going  on  here  for 
years?  If  a  cyclone  affected  a  city  far  away,  or  there  were  a 
famine,  they  would  contribute  to  that  'foreign  city  generously.  But 
the  wage-earners  of  the  United  States,  the  producers  of  all  the 
wealth,  are  neglected,  and  treated  with  contempt.  You  may  recall 
that  in  1905  they  sent  the  men  into  the  morgue,  to  sleep  with  the 
dead.  That  shows  what  contempt  they  had  for  the  working  class 
in  this  city,  state  and  nation. 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER:  It  is  just  that  condition  that  we  are  trying 
to  get  away  from. 

A  VOICE:  I  would  like  to  correct  an  impression  given  to  this 
audience  by  Professor  Henderson.  I  and  some  of  my  associates 
are  interested  in  very  large  tracts  of  western  lands.  We  have 


General  Discussion  307 

several  millions  of  dollars  invested  in  this  land,  and  we  find  it  im- 
possible to  market  it  at  any  price.    I  say  we  need  immigration. 

A  VOICE:  I  wish  to  discountenance  this  misrepresentation  of 
conditions  in  California  and  in  San  Francisco.  I  say  as  between 
the  two  men,  the  one  who  has  the  large  acreage  of  land  that  he  de- 
sires to  sell,  and  the  man  who  complained  that  workers  by  the 
thousands  were  being  invited  to  the  state  without  jobs  being  pro- 
vided for  them,  the  man  who  spoke  about  the  jobs  is  right.  There 
is  no  work  out  there  for  one-half  of  the  people  who  are  being  in- 
vited, and  I  would  not  advise  anybody  to  go  out  there  before  having 
good  prospects  before  he  starts. 

A  VOICE:  We  all  know  that  a  lot  of  men  in  the  city  of  New 
York  are  out  of  work.  I  would  like  to  ask  you  what  are  these 
men  who  are  in  the  bread-line  at  the  present  time  going  to  do  in 
the  meantime? 

CHAIRMAN  SEAGER  :  I  think  there  should  be  no  "meantime."  We 
ought  to  get  to  work  right  off  on  this  program,  on  the  part  of  it 
that  affects  the  bread-line,  for  this  is  the  part  that  relates  to  trying 
to  find  employment  for  those  men  who  are  in  need  of  it,  and  sift 
out  from  the  bread-line  those  who  are  ill  and  unable  to  work,  and 
provide  them  with  the  care  they  should  receive. 


IV 

CONSTRUCTIVE  PROPOSALS 


Presiding  Officer:  HENRY  R.  SEAGER 

President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS 


HENRY  R.  SEAGER 
President,  American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation. 


I  believe  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  so  many  different 
aspects  of  the  problem  of  unemployment  were  touched  upon  in 
the  addresses  yesterday,  notwithstanding  the  confusion  of  mind 
resulting  therefrom,  all  of  us  have  nevertheless  had  our  thoughts 
somewhat  clarified  on  this  subject. 

As  speaker  followed  speaker  yesterday  I  felt  that  the  whole 
matter  stood  out  more  and  more  clearly,  and  that  what  ought  to  be 
done  in  this  country,  following,  to  some  extent,  what  has  actually 
been  done  in  other  countries,  became  more  and  more  obvious. 

The  aspect  of  the  question  most  impressed  upon  my  own  thought 
was  the  necessity  for  regularizing  employment.  It  is  still  true  that 
nine  out  of  ten  employers  employ  and  discharge  their  wage-earners 
with  very  little  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the  wage-earner. 
That  is  to  say,  they  look  upon  loss  of  work  as  a  risk  which  the 
employee  takes,  and  they  have  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  worker, 
on  his  side,  can  face  that  risk,  and  that  he  is  in  a  position  to  find 
re-employment  if  he  is  discharged. 

It  is  notorious,  however,  that  that  is  not  the  case  with  the  average 
worker,  and  this  brings  out  the  second  aspect  of  the  situation,  that 
along  with  the  chaotic  and  inconsiderate  method  of  conducting 
industry  which  we  have  been  following  in  this  country,  we  have 
failed  to  develop  any  adequate  machinery  to  help  the  discharged 
man  to  get  another  job.  We  have  put  it  up  to  him  to  tramp  the 
streets  until  he  finds  re-employment.  Aside  from  the  injustice,, 
the  cruelty  of  that  system,  the  lack  of  economy  must  impress  every 
one, — the  loss  of  time,  the  loss  of  efficiency,  and  the  loss  of  ambition 
that  result  from  putting  upon  the  individual  worker  the  responsi- 
bility of  finding  a  new  job.  That  makes  very  clear,  I  believe,  as 
the  first  need  of  this  whole  situation,  the  organization  of  the  labor 
market  in  a  way  that  will  compare,  as  far  as  is  possible,  with  what 
we  have  already  achieved  in  the  organization  of  commodity 
markets. 


312  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

The  labor  market  is  the  only  market  in  which  the  burden  is 
thrown  upon  the  seller.  All  other  markets  throw  the  burden  upon 
the  buyer.  Our  stock  exchange,  our  commodity  markets,  are  all 
organized  on  the  latter  plan;  but  the  labor  market,  which  from 
every  other  point  of  view  is  vastly  more  important  than  any  com- 
modity market,  is  organized  on  the  former  plan.  The  buyer  sits 
back  and  puts  a  notice  in  his  window,  "Boy  wanted,"  or  "Girl 
wanted,"  and  throws  upon  the  seller  the  necessity  of  coming  to 
him  and  offering  his  services  with  a  large  chance  of  having  the 
offer  rejected.  On  that  point  all  European  countries  are  ahead  of 
this  country,  because  every  one  of  them  has  developed  some  sort 
of  machinery  for  relieving  the  laborer  of  this  great  and  cruel 
necessity  of  tramping  the  streets  in  search  of  work  when  he  falls 
out  of  employment. 

Dr.  Howe  last  night  described  in  a  very  attractive  way  the  man- 
ner in  which  Germany  is  meeting  this  need.  After  hearing  him 
speak,  I  think  we  almost  felt  that  in  Germany  it  would  be  rather 
nice  to  be  unemployed,  to  be  able  to  go  to  one  of  these  clubs,  and 
to  play  checkers,  or  chess,  while  waiting  for  another  job  to  be 
offered.  Germany,  as  regards  this  phase  of  the  situation,  leads 
the  world,  not  because  its  plan  is  more  comprehensive  than  is 
proposed  in  the  United  Kingdom,  but  because  it  has  been  in  oper- 
ation longer. 

The  third  aspect  of  the  situation  impressed  upon  my  thought  is 
the  need  of  some  sort  of  guidance  that  will  assist  the  young  boy 
and  girl,  on  leaving  school,  to  make  a  first  choice  of  employment 
wisely,  and  to  assist  the  more  advanced  worker  to  choose  wisely 
when  he  is  thrown  out  of  employment;  and  in  regard  to  this  voca- 
tional guidance  it  is  clear  also  that  we  need  better  machinery  for 
trade  and  industrial  education. 

Finally,  the  aspect  that  was  not  brought  out  so  clearly  in  the 
conference  during  the  day,  but  that  was  emphasized  in  the  addresses 
in  the  evening,  is  the  need  of  machinery  to  insure  those  in  seasonal 
trades  against  the  financial  consequences  of  unemployment,  some 
plan  by  which  'the  workers  can  pool  their  small  savings  in  a  common 
fund  out  of  which  they  can  draw  out-of-work  benefits  when  they 
are  out  of  work.  Such  a  plan  is  needed,  furthermore,  so  that  the 
wage-earner  can  enjoy  each  year  the  holiday  which  the  salaried  em- 
ployee regards  as  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  his  compen- 


Introductory  Address  313 

sation.  It  is  really  true  that  the  only  way  for  the  wage-earner  to 
get  a  holiday  is  to  be  unemployed.  Every  man  employed  ought  to 
have  a  holiday  of  from  two  to  four  weeks  in  the  year,  and  we 
ought  to  have  machinery  by  which  the  wage-earner  can  draw  his 
out-of-work  benefit  in  the  meantime  and  be  assured  of  re-employ- 
ment when  he  is  ready  to  go  back  to  work. 

Through  a  system  of  unemployment  insurance  such  as  many  of 
the  trade  unions  have  worked  out  and  are  operating  successfully 
we  may  approximately  cover  this  ground.  England  has  demon- 
strated that  what  the  trade  unions  have  accomplished  can  also  be 
undertaken  on  a  national  scale,  through  the  national  government. 
That  is  the  fourth  and  last  plank  in  the  program  of  solution  that 
has  impressed  itself  upon  my  mind. 

This  morning  we  want  to  have  other  suggestions  put  before  us. 
We  want  to  have  the  all-important  question  decided  as  to  what  we 
should  do  immediately,  and  what  measures  we  should  take  to  secure 
these  developments  that  must  come  only  after  further  study  and 
further  education  of  public  opinion.  For  as  Professor  Henderson 
said  last  night,  one  of  our  greatest  difficulties  in  this  country  still 
is  to  persuade  the  ordinary,  comfortable  citizen  that  there  is  any 
real  problem  of  unemployment.  Many  people  still  believe  that  if 
a  man  wishes  to,  he  can  get  work,  and  if  he  cannot  there  must  be 
something  the  matter  with  the  man.  That  was  said  at  a  meeting  on 
unemployment  I  attended  recently — that  the  unemployment  prob- 
lem was  not  an  industrial  problem,  but  a  relief  problem,  the  prob- 
lem of  the  hobo  and  the  vagrant.  That  view  is  still  common  and 
it  is  only  through  persistent  educational  campaigns  that  we  can 
educate  our  comfortable  fellow-citizens  out  of  the  notion,  and  get 
general  support  for  the  complete  program  which  is  necessary  for 
anything  like  an  adequate  solution  of  the  problem. 


PUBLIC    EMPLOYMENT    OFFICES    IN    THEORY    AND 

PRACTICE 


WILLIAM  M.  LEISERSON 
Wisconsin  Superintendent  of  Employment  Offices 


Public  employment  offices  are  now  in  existence  in  eighteen  of 
the  United  States,  in  about  sixty  cities.  The  circumstances  which 
led  to  their  establishment  have  in  the  main  been  three:  the  abuses 
of  private  employment  agencies,  the  lack  of  farm  labor  in  agri- 
cultural states,  and  the  presence  of  great  numbers  of  unemployed 
wage-earners  in  the  industrial  centers.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
example  of  foreign  governments  and  the  growing  belief  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  state  to  prevent  unnecessary  idleness.  Whatever 
the  reasons  for  the  establishment  of  the  offices,  the  results  have  in 
most  cases  been  the  same.  The  administration  has  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  people  unfamiliar  with  their  design  and  purpose. 
These  officials  have  either  mismanaged  the  offices  so  that  they  had 
to  be  discontinued  or  else  they  performed  their  duties  perfunctorily 
and  in  a  wholly  ineffective  manner. 

This,  in  short,  has  been  the  history  of  public  employment  offices 
in  the  United  States.-  In  theory  they  were  designed  to  furnish 
clearing  houses  for  labor,  to  bring  the  job  and  the  man  together 
with  the  least  delay,  and  to  eliminate  the  private  labor  agent,  whose 
activity  as  middleman  is  so  often  accompanied  by  fraud,  misrepre- 
sentation and  extortion.  In  practice,  far  from  supplanting  private 
agencies,  the  free  offices  have  not  even  maintained  an  effective 
competition  against  them.  With  few  exceptions  their  operations 
have  been  on  a  small  scale,  their  methods  unbusinesslike,  and  their 
statistics  valueless  if  not  unreliable.  Four  states  and  about  half 
a  dozen  cities  have  discontinued  their  public  employment  offices, 
and  most  of  those  now  in  existence  are  constantly  on  the  defensive 
to  maintain  their  existence. 

ARE  PUBLIC  OFFICES  A  FAILURE? 

Shall  we  say,  then,  that  public  employment  offices  are  a  failure, 
and  give  up  all  attempts  to  establish  them?  If  we  do,  we  should 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice        315 

have  to  say  that  our  state  labor  departments,  our  factory  inspec- 
tion departments,  our  health  departments  should  also  be  given  up; 
for  their  history  in  the  United  States  has  been  about  the  same  as 
that  of  the  employment  offices.  They  have  been  manned  without 
merit  and  their  work  is  crude  and  ineffective. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  however,  that  employment  offices,  like 
factory  inspection  and  the  health  work  of  our  governments,  are 
based  on  sound  principles,  and  their  lack  of  success  has  been  due 
mainly  to  the  general  administrative  inefficiency  of  our  government 
work.  In  Europe,  where  public  labor  exchanges  have  been  most 
successful,  they  are  by  no  means  all  equally  successful.  Some 
German  cities  have  active,  business-like  labor  exchanges,  but  in  other 
cities  the  work  of  the  offices  is  as  sleepy  and  inefficient  as  any  of 
our  own.  The  lesson  is  obvious.  If  we  want  successful  public 
employment  offices  we  must  follow  the  example  of  the  larger 
German  cities,  and  put  people  in  charge  of  them  who  understand 
the  business,  who  know  its  principles  and  its  technique,  and  who 
will  work  with  vigor  and  energy  to  make  their  offices  successful. 

Do  WE  WANT  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES? 

But  do  we  want  public  employment  offices  at  all?  Is  the  state 
justified  in  maintaining  such  offices?  These  questions  must  be  set- 
tled at  the  beginning.  Many  thoughtful  people  see  no  necessity  for 
such  public  agencies.  Samuel  Gompers  in  the  American  Feder- 
ationist  recently  stated  that  the  existing  agencies  were  ample  for 
distributing  the  labor  forces  of  the  country.  A  Massachusetts 
commission  to  investigate  employment  offices,  argued  that  "for  well- 
known  reasons  we  never  think  of  establishing  governmental  grocery 
stores  and  governmental  dry  goods  shops  in  the  hope  of  having  the 
community  better  served  than  by  private  enterprises.  The  same 
reasons  should  clearly  govern  our  attitude  towards  employment 
offices,  unless  it  is  shown  that  the  employment  office  business  is 
different  from  other  businesses."  Public  employment  offices,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  commission,  should  not  be  established  to  com- 
pete "with  the  private  office  in  placing  regular  domestic,  mer- 
cantile or  other  skilled  labor." 

The  trouble  with  these  views  is  that  they  are  held  by  people  who 
do  not  understand  the  nature  of  the  employment  business.  That 
the  three  months  spent  by  the  Massachusetts  commission  in  study- 


316  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

ing  employment  offices  was  not  sufficient  to  learn  the  business  is 
evident  from  the  comparison  with  groceries  and  dry  goods  stores. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  comparison  should  be  with  the  post  office, 
the  school  system,  and  the  distribution  of  weather  and  crop  re- 
ports. The  unfortunate  thing  is  that  not  only  the  publ:c  at  large 
but  most  of  those  in  charge  of  our  employment  offices  have  not 
understood  the  nature  of  the  business. 

WHY  WE  NEED  EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES 

In  order  to  judge  correctly  of  the  public  employment  offices  we 
must  know  the  principles  upon  which  they  are  based.  What,  then, 
is  an  employment  office,  and  what  are  its  purposes  and  functions? 
In  a  sentence,  an  employment  office  may  be  defined  as  a  place  where 
buyer  and  seller  of  labor  may  meet  with  the  least  possible  difficulty 
and  the  least  loss  of  time.  The  function  of  an  employment  office 
is  best  expressed  by  the  British  term  "labor  exchange".  Exchange 
implies  a  market.  It  is  an  organization  of  the  labor  market,  just  as 
the  stock  market,  the  hog  market,  the  wheat  market  are  organized 
to  facilitate  the  buying  of  these  products. 

Now,  why  do  we  need  an  organized  labor  market?  Employers 
are  constantly  hiring  and  discharging  employees.  Workers  are 
constantly  looking  for  employment.  The  New  York  Commission 
on  Unemployment  reported  in  1911  that  four  out  of  every  ten 
wage-earners  work  irregularly  and  have  to  seek  employment  at 
least  once,  probably  many  times  during  the  year;  and  it  found  un- 
employment and  unfilled  demand  'for  labor  existing  side  by  side. 
Census  returns,  manufacturing  statistics  and  special  investigations 
all  reveal  the  intermittent  character  of  the  demand  for  labor  which 
necessitates  a  reserve  of  labor,  employed  not  steadily,  but  shifting 
from  place  to  place  as  wanted. 

How  does  a  wage-earner  find  employment?  Interesting  light  is 
thrown  upon  this  question  by  statements  made  to  the  New  York 
Commission  on  Unemployment  by  750  employers.  Of  these  458,  or 
over  60  per  cent,  stated  that  they  could  always  get  all  the  help  they 
needed,  and  practically  all  of  them  hired  their  forces  from  people 
who  made  personal  application  at  their  plants.  Two  hundred  ad- 
vertised in  newspapers,  and  also  hired  from  among  those  who  made 
personal  application  at  the  plant.  About  fifty  used  employment 
agencies  and  ten  depended  upon  trade  unions.  The  main  reliance, 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       317 

therefore,  is  placed  upon  wage-earners  calling  at  the  plants,  and 
upon  the  newspapers.  What  this  means  is  well  illustrated  in  a  com- 
munication sent  to  the  Chicago  Tribune  by  a  working  girl.  She 
wrote : 

"For  the  last  ten  days  I  have  been  going  to  the  loop  every  day  to 
look  for  work.  I  am  there  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  look 
for  work  until  eleven.  From  eleven  to  twelve  is  the  lunch  period  in 
most  big  establishments,  and  it  is  useless  to  try  to  see  anybody  at 
that  time.  My  lunch  in  a  cafeteria  gives  me  a  rest  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes.  Then  I  am  back  again  on  the  sidewalk.  The  chase 
from  building  to  building  during  the  morning  and  the  constant  dodg- 
ing of  automobiles  tire  me.  Is  there  a  place  where  I  can  go  to 
rest  up?" 

The  girl's  question  does  not  concern  us  so  much  here  as  her 
method  of  seeking  employment.  Think  of  the  waste  of  time  and 
energy  and  the  discouragement  in  going  from  door  to  door  to  ask 
if  any  help  is  needed.  She  had  been  doing  this  for  ten  days  with- 
out success:  and  the  significant  thing  about  her  search  for  work  is 
that  the  demand  for  women  workers  is  generally  greater  than  the 
supply,  and  this  was  in  a  busy  month,  July,  during  a  fairly  prosper- 
ous year,  1913.  What  must  be  the  waste  and  discouragement  of 
men  whose  labor  is  not  so  much  in  demand? 

This  is  the  price  we  pay  for  lack  of  organization  in  the  buying 
and  selling  of  labor.  The  reason  most  employers  can  get  all  the 
help  they  need  at  their  gates  or  by  inserting  an  "ad"  in  a  news- 
paper is  because  there  are  thousands  of  such  men  and  women  going 
from  door  to  door  and  hundreds  responding  to  each  cue  given  in 
the  newspapers.  The  labor  market  is  still  in  the  peddling  stage. 
While  dealing  in  almost  all  the  important  articles  of  trade  is  now 
systematically  organized,  with  exchanges  and  salesmen  and  trade 
papers,  labor  must  still  be  peddled  from  door  to  door  by  each 
individual  worker.  A  recent  investigation  in  the  Philippines  de- 
scribed how  chair  makers  and  box  makers  after  working  up  a 
stock  of  goods  take  them  to  sell  on  a  peddling  tour  in  ox  carts. 
When  they  want  wood  for  their  manufacture  a  member  of  the 
household  sets  out  on  the  road  and  buys  the  first  tree  that  suits 
his  purpose.  Our  industries  have  developed  far  beyond  this,  but  in 
the  buying  and  selling  of  labor  they  are  almost  all  in  this  primitive 
stage. 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

The  economic  waste  from  lack  of  intelligent  organization  of  the 
labor  market  shows  itself  in  the  development  of  many  small  markets. 
Each  factory  gate  and  industrial  district  of  a  city  tends  to  become 
a  market.  Each  draws  a  reserve  of  labor  ready  to  meet  the  fluctuat- 
ing demands  of  employers.  This  reserve  is  increased  by  the  multi- 
plication of  markets,  and  a  maladjustment  is  caused  between  supply 
and  demand.  The  manless  job  and  the  jobless  man  often  fail  to 
meet.  There  is  an  oversupply  of  labor  in  one  place,  and  a  shortage 
in  another.  Some  occupations  are  overcrowded  while  others  have 
not  a  sufficient  supply.  An  organized  market  for  labor  is  needed 
for  the  same  reason  that  other  markets  are  organized,  to  eliminate 
waste,  to  facilitate  exchange,  to  bring  the  supply  and  demand 
quickly  together,  to  develop  the  efficiency  that  comes  from  special- 
ization and  a  proper  division  of  labor.  The  good  workman,  like 
the  good  manufacturer,  may  be  a  poor  merchant  or  salesman.  An 
organized  labor  market  will  enable  workers  to  attend  to  their  busi- 
ness of  working  and  will  develop  efficient  dealers  in  labor  who  will 
be  specialized  as  employment  agents.- 

PUBLIC  OR  PRIVATE  EMPLOYMENT  BUREAUS? 

Granting  the  need  of  an  organized  labor  market,  is  it  the  duty  of 
the  state  to  organize  it?  Can  we  not  depend  upon  private  enter- 
prise to  perform, this  function  as  we  do  in  the  grocery  or  in  the 
dry  goods  business? 

It  would  seem  a  sufficient  answer  that  private  enterprise  up  to 
the  present  has  not  undertaken  so  to  organize  the  labor  market. 
Business  men  have  let  the  distribution  of  labor  lag  more  than  a 
hundred  years  behind  the  general  development  of  industry,  not 
without  good  reasons.  The  main  reason  has  been  that  the  entire 
burden  of  the  maladjustment  is  borne  by  the  wage-earner.  It  is  he 
who  suffers  from  the  loss  of  time  and  energy;  and  moreover  the 
failure  to  get  a  job  quickly  makes  him  willing  to  take  work  at  any 
price,  tends  to  keep  wages  down.  Wherever  employers  have  felt  a 
lack  of  labor  they  have  developed  some  form  of  organized  search 
for  help.  Thus  railroad  and  lumber  companies  and  other  large  em- 
ployers of  labor  do  have  labor  agents,  and  private  labor  agencies 
cater  mainly  to  such  employers. 

But  there  are  other  reasons  why  private  enterprise  has  failed  to 
organize  this  service  properly.  The  nature  of  the  business  is  such 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       319 

that  to  be  successful  it  really  needs  to  be  a  monopoly.  It  is  like 
the  post  office  and  not  like  the  grocery  business.  The  service  is  a 
public  utility.  Little  capital  is  required,  the  operations  are  simple 
and  the  profits  are  large.  A  labor  agent  who  ships  to  a  railroad 
one  hundred  men  a  day,  which  is  a  comparatively  small  number, 
makes  $100  or  more  profit.  This  tends  to  multiply  labor  agencies 
and  keep  each  business  small.  In  New  York  city  alone  there  are 
almost  a  thousand  labor  agencies  and  yet  85  per  cent  of  the  em- 
ployers never  use  them.  In  Chicago  there  are  over  600.  The 
multiplication  of  agencies  has  the  same  evil  effect  as  the  multipli- 
cation of  labor  markets.  They  merely  make  more  places  to  look 
for  work,  and  the  more  places  the  more  are  the  chances  that  man 
and  job  will  miss  each  other.  The  agencies,  being  in  competition, 
will  not  exchange  lists  and  an  applicant  for  work  may  register  at 
one  while  another  has  the  job  which  fits  him. 

Furthermore,  the  fee  which  private  labor  agents  must  charge  for 
their  service  precludes  them  from  becoming  efficient  distributors  o£ 
the  labor  force  of  a  state.  At  the  very  time  when  labor  is  most 
overabundant,  when  there  are  many  unemployed  and  it  is  import- 
ant that  those  who  can  shall  go  to  work  at  once,  then  the  fees  for 
securing  employment  are  highest.  A  barrier  is  thus  interposed  to 
the  proper  flow  of  labor  into  the  channels  where  it  is  needed. 
Moreover  there  is  ever  the  temptation  to  the  agent  to  fill  his  po- 
sition from  among  people  who  are  already  employed.  This  practice 
is  universal  among  private  labor  agents.  It  enables  them  to  create 
new  vacancies  and  to  earn  more  fees. 

But  besides  private  employment  agencies  which  charge  fees  for 
their  services  there  have  been  attempts  by  trade  unions,  employers' 
associations  and  philanthropic  societies  to  organize  the  placing  of 
labor  without  charge.  These,  too,  have  failed,  and  for  obvious 
reasons.  Employers  will  not  patronize  a  trade  union  office  except 
•when  the  trade  is  completely  organized.  It  gives  the  union  too 
powerful  a  weapon  in  the  struggle  for  control.  Wage-earners,  on 
the  other  hand,  will  not  go  in  great  numbers  to  an  agency  main- 
tained by  employers  because  of  its  possible  use  for  blacklisting, 
breaking  strikes  and  beating  down  wages.  If  there  is  any  one  con- 
dition that  is  basic  in  the  successful  management  of  an  employment 
office,  it  is  that  it  must  be  impartial  as  between  employers  and 
workers  in  their  struggles  over  conditions  of  employment.  As  for 


320  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

philanthropic  agencies,  the  tinge  of  charity  has  been  fatal  to  them. 
No  self-respecting  wage-earner  wants  to  apply  at  a  charitable 
agency,  and  no  employer  will  call  for  efficient  and  steady  help  at 
such  an  agency. 

The  state,  and  not  private  individuals,  then,  must  be  relied  upon 
to  organize  the  labor  market,  because  the  gathering  of  information 
about  opportunities  for  employment  and  the  proper  distribution  of 
this  inforrnation  to  those  in  need  of  it  require  a  centralized  or- 
ganization which  will  gather  all  the  demand  and  which  will  be  in 
touch  with  the  entire  available  supply.  The  gathering  and  the 
distribution  must  be  absolutely  impartial.  Wage-earners  and  em- 
ployers must  have  faith  in  the  accuracy  and  reliability  of  the  in- 
formation. There  must  be  no  tinge  of  charity  to  the  enterprise, 
and  fees  big  enough  to  interpose  a  barrier  to  the  mobility  of  labor 
must  be  eliminated. 

PHILANTHROPIC  AND  REGULATED  EMPLOYMENT  AGENCIES 

Now  it  may  be  true  that  employment  offices  perform  a  public 
function,  and  that  they  are  in  the  nature  of  public  utilities,  and 
yet  the  weaknesses  of  state  activity  may  be  such  as  to  make  it 
impossible  for  any  American  state  to  perform  the  service  properly. 
Perhaps  we  ought  to  induce  enterprising  business  men  to  organize 
the  labor  market  on  a  large  scale  and  then  regulate  them  as  we  do 
our  railroads  and  street  car  companies.  This  is  the  view  of  a 
recent  French  writer  on  unemployment,  M.  Bellet.  Perhaps  we 
ought  to  rely  upon  philanthropists  to  invest  in  this  business,  as 
they  have  done  in  provident  loan  societies  and  model  tenements, 
with  the  expectation  of  a  moderate  return  on  the  capital.  This 
idea  was  expressed  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Devine  at  the  International  Con- 
gress on  Unemployment  in  Paris  in  1910,  and  the  National  Em- 
ployment Exchange  established  in  New  York  with  an  endowment 
of  $100,000  is  an  embodiment  of  the  idea. 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter  into  the  relative  merits  of  gov- 
ernmental regulation  and  of  governmental  operation.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  if  this  important  function  be  left  in  private  hands  it  will 
require  the  very  strictest  regulation  to  insure  just  treatment  of  all 
patrons  and  impartiality  between  employers  and  workmen  in  labor 
disputes.  The  regulation  can  never  be  effective  until  it  establishes 
the  confidence  of  both  employers  and  workers  in  the  fairness  and 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       321 

impartiality  of  the  private  labor  agents.  To  accomplish  this  the 
state  would  have  to  employ  honest,  energetic  and  capable  men  to  do 
the  regulating  who  would  understand  the  employment  business 
thoroughly.  But  if  the  government  had  the  services  of  such  a  set 
of  men  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  its  ability  to  manage  employment 
offices  on  its  own  account  with  more  success  than  private  enter- 
prise could,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  the  fees  which  the  private 
agency  would  have  to  charge.  In  addition,  however,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  this  is  a  business  which  lends  itself  easily  to  fraud 
and  imposition,  as  every  one  has  found  who  has  studied  the  ques- 
tion, and  if  left  in  private  hands  it  can  never  be  possible  to  prevent 
the  multiplication  of  agencies  which  plays  against  their  efficiency. 

As  for  a  philanthropic  enterprise,  it  is  bound  to  be  considered  a 
charity  unless  it  charges  fees.  However  reasonable  it  may  make  its 
charges,  to  a  certain  extent  it  is  bound  to  defeat  its  own  purpose  by 
keeping  the  man  who  hasn't  the  fee  from  a  job.  But  its  greatest 
handicap  will  be  that  it  must  be  supported  by  men  with  money  to 
invest,  that  is,  employers  of  labor.  Workmen  will  always  look  upon 
it  either  with  suspicion  or  with  the  disdain  they  commonly  attach 
to  paternal  enterprises.  As  a  matter  of  fact  many  of  the  municipal 
employment  offices  in  Germany  did  start  as  philanthropic  enter- 
prises and  it  was  found  more  effective  to  turn  them  over  to  the 
cities  and  give  capital  and  labor  representation  on  a  parity  in  their 
management.  Much  the  better  solution,  it  seems  to  me,  would  be 
for  the  state  frankly  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  providing 
wage-earners  and  employers  with  information  as  to  the  location  and 
condition  of  labor  demand  and  supply.  The  function  would  be  no 
different  from  that  assumed  in  the  maintenance  of  schools  and 
libraries. 

SHALL  THE  SERVICE  BE  FREE? 

But  will  not  the  furnishing  of  this  service  free  of  charge  by  the 
state  tend  to  undermine  the  self-reliance  of  the  workers?  Is  it 
not  in  fact  a  charity  although  every  one  may  take  advantage  of  it? 
This  fear  has  been  expressed  whenever  the  state  proposed  to  enter 
upon  any  new  enterprise.  In  the  present  case  it  is  due  to  a  mis- 
conception of  the  nature  of  the  employment  business,  and  experience 
has  shown  the  fear  to  be  groundless.  An  employment  office  does 
not  give  work  to  anyone.  It  merely  tells  the  applicant  where  there 


322  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

is  a  job.  To  secure  a  position  the  applicant  must  have  the  same 
qualities  of  fitness  and  efficiency  as  if  he  had  got  in  touch  with  the 
employer  after  a  day  of  pounding  the  pavements.  It  is  information 
and  not  jobs  that  employment  offices  distribute.  The  employer  is 
directed  to  the  supply  of  labor,  the  worker  is  informed  as  to  the 
location  and  condition  of  the  demand. 

It  is  because  the  welfare  of  society  depends  upon  the  widest 
possible  distribution  of  reliable  information  of  this  kind  that  the 
state  is  justified  in  giving  the  service  free.  What  information 
could  be  more  important  to  a  people  than  to  know  exactly  where 
opportunities  are  open  for  men  to  apply  their  energies  to  make  a 
living?  It  is  the  same  sort  of  information  that  the  government 
distributes  to  business  men  in  its  consular  reports,  geological  sur- 
veys, and  its  publications  on  the  natural  resources  of  the  states.  It 
distributes  the  information  free  for  the  same  reason  that  it  main- 
tains free  schools  and  distributes  crop  reports  and  weather  reports 
free.  The  importance  and  the  essentially  public  nature  of  the  in- 
formation gathered  by  employment  offices  make  the  performance  of 
this  service  a  public  function. 

ARE  THE  ADMINISTRATIVE  DIFFICULTIES  INSURMOUNTABLE? 

It  remains  now  to  show  that  an  American  state  can  actually  or- 
ganize the  labor  market  and  administer  the  organization  efficiently 
and  effectively.  To  begin  with,  I  have  no  defense  to  make  of  the 
free  employment  offices  in  the  United  States.  All  the  criticism 
that  has  been  directed  against  them  is  well  deserved,  but  it  is  not 
final,  because  some  states  have  been  successful  with  them.  More- 
over, it  is  far  more  true  of  private  employment  agencies  than  of 
public,  that  most  of  them  have  been  frauds  as  well  as  failures. 

The  first  requisite  of  successful  employment  offices  is  that  the 
people  who  manage  them  shall  know  their  business.  This  would 
seem  axiomatic,  but  it  has  been  a  weakness  of  all  governmental 
activity  that  officials  are  placed  in  positions  for  political  reasons 
rather  than  for  their  efficiency.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  that 
the  office  force  should  be  made  up  of  economists  and  sociologists. 
This  business  can  be  learned  by  ordinary  people  as  well  as  any 
other  business.  All  that  is  necessary  is  that  the  public  shall  insist 
that  officers  be  appointed  for  merit  alone  and  that  their  tenure  of 
office  be  permanent  as  long  as  they  attend  to  business  properly. 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       323 

Also  there  must  be  some  system  of  promotion,  so  that  the  ambitious 
clerk  in  a  public  employment  office  may  be  advanced  both  in  po- 
sition and  in  salary.  This  is  nothing  more  than  a  well  organized 
system  of  civil  service. 

That  an  American  state  can  establish  such  a  system  of  civil 
service  and  can  conduct  employment  offices  on  the  soundest  prin- 
ciples of  management  is  proved  by  the  experience  of  Wisconsin. 
In  1911  the  industrial  commission  reorganized  the  four  free  em- 
ployment offices  in  the  state  and  proceeded  to  work  out  a  system  of 
civil  service.  The  force  of  employees  was  selected  by  an  examining 
board  on  which  the  industrial  commission,  the  state  civil  service 
commission  and  organized  employers  and  workers  were  represented. 

At  the  head  of  the  public  employment  offices  a  person  should  be 
placed  who  understands  not  only  the  technique  of  the  business  but 
also  the  principles  on  which  the  offices  are  based,  and  their  relation 
to  the  whole  industrial  life  of  the  state,  and  to  the  pressing  prob- 
lem of  unemployment.  He  should  be  depended  upon  to  train  the 
staff,  supervise  its  work  and  to  develop  an  administrative  machine 
that  will  be  permanent.  The  subordinate  officials  must  know  that 
they  are  selected  because  they  seem  most  promising,  and  that  their 
tenure  of  office  depends  upon  the  character  of  their  work.  Their 
salaries  should  be  increased  as  they  improve  in  efficiency,  and 
when  vacancies  occur  the  most  fit  should  be  promoted. 

As  part  of  an  effective  administrative  machine,  a  system  of  repre- 
sentation of  the  interests  involved  should  be  worked  out  in  order 
to  insure  confidence  and  impartiality.  A  managing  committee  of 
employers  and  workmen  should  be  organized,  with  each  side  equally 
represented,  the  state  and  local  governments  also  having  members. 
This  committee  decides  all  matters  of  policy,  especially  the  attitude 
of  the  office  during  industrial  disputes.  It  sees  to  it  that  neither 
one  side  nor  the  other  is  favored  at  such  times. 

It  should  be  established  as  a  principle  of  the  management  that 
the  offices  are  not  charities  but  pure  business  propositions  to  facili- 
tate the  meeting  of  buyers  and  sellers  of  labor.  Fitness  for  posi- 
tions should  be  the  prime  test  in  all  dealings.  If  applicants  are 
unemployed  because  of  old  age,  inefficiency  or  disability  of  any 
kind,  it  will  be  no  help  either  to  them  or  to  the  community  to  refer 
them  to  positions  which  they  cannot  hold.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
liable  to  kill  the  office. 


324  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Finally  it  must  be  strictly  maintained  that  information,  and  not 
jobs,  is  distributed  by  the  public  employment  offices.  No  one  is 
assured  of  a  position  by  applying  for  work.  No  employer  is  as- 
sured of  help.  The  offices  merely  bring  to  the  notice  of  working 
people  the  opportunities  for  employment  for  which  they  are  fitted, 
and  connect  employers  with  the  available  supply  of  labor  of  the 
kind  they  need.  Employers  and  workers  are  left  to  make  their 
own  bargains.  No  responsibility  is  assumed  by  the  management 
beyond  the  accuracy  and  the  reliability  of  the  representations  that 
are  made  by  the  office  force  to  applicants  for  employment  or  help. 

The  result  of  this  system  in  Wisconsin  has  been  unusually  suc- 
cessful. The  Milwaukee  office  is  the  only  one  located  in  a  city  large 
enough  to  permit  of  great  expansion.  During  the  first  year  its 
business  was  increased  almost  fourfold  over  preceding  years  when 
it  was  conducted  as  the  majority  of  employment  offices  in  the 
United  States  have  been  managed.  Applications  for  employment 
increased  from  6,300  to  23,000 ;  help  wanted  from  6,200  to  29,000 ; 
and  persons  referred  to  positions  from  6,000  to  24,000.  Of  the 
24,000  referred,  it  was  positively  ascertained  that  11,400  had  ac- 
tually been  hired.  During  the  second  year  the  business  increased 
over  the  first  by  about  40  per  cent.  The  cost  per  verified  position 
secured  the  first  year  was  60  cents.  The  second  year  it  was  less 
than  50  cents.  We  shall  not  be  satisfied  until  this  has  been  much 
further  reduced.  Our  other  three  free  employment  offices  are 
located  in  cities  with  populations  of  less  than  45,000.  While  they 
have  not  shown  such  remarkable  results,  they  have  substantially 
increased  their  business. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES 

Coming  a  little  farther  into  the  details  of  management  we  found 
an  accurate  system  of  record  keeping  essential.  The  temptation 
is  ever  present  to  minimize  the  importance  of  records  and  to  say 
that  the  securing  of  employment  is  the  chief  function.  But  it  is  not 
possible  to  run  an  employment  office  properly  without  a  careful 
system  of  records  any  more  than  any  other  business  can  be  con- 
ducted without  a  set  of  books.  A  proper  selection  of  applicants 
for  positions  available  is  possible  only  by  a  careful  system  of  regis- 
tration. Moreover,  the  applicant  must  be  followed  to  the  place  of 
employment  and  an  accurate  record  kept  of  the  positions  to  which 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       325 

he  is  sent.  On  the  employer's  side  a  list  of  the  applicants  referred 
to  him  must  be  kept. 

Often  men  do  not  report  for  work;  sometimes  they  hire  out  and 
fail  to  appear  the  next  day,  or  they  work  a  few  hours  and  quit 
without  reason.  Employers,  too,  are  not  careful  to  represent  con- 
ditions as  they  are.  They  may  promise  more  wages  than  they  pay, 
or  if  board  and  lodging  are  a  part  of  the  remuneration  they  may 
not  provide  proper  food  or  accommodations.  Often  they  promise 
steady  work  when  they  need  but  temporary  help,  and  some  em- 
ployers fail  to  pay  wages  promptly.  These  facts  with  regard  to 
both  employers  and  employees  must  be  carefully  noted  in  order 
that  each  applicant  may  be  sized  up  correctly,  and  the  character  of 
the  positions  accurately  represented  to  those  seeking  employment. 
It  is  easy  to  overload  the  office  with  bookkeeping,  but  our  managers 
studied  the  work  of  the  offices  thoroughly  and  were  not  afraid  to 
make  changes  from  time  to  time,  as  new  methods  suggested  them- 
selves. A  simple  card  system  has  been  worked  out  which  is  easily 
understood  and  requires  little  time  to  maintain. 

Care  is  taken  to  give  applicants  as  full  information  as  possible 
about  trie  positions  to  which  they  are  referred.  Discrimination  is 
made  only  on  reliability  and  fitness,  and  such  discrimination  is  al- 
ways openly  made  and  the  reasons  frankly  given  to  the  persons 
discriminated  against.  Here  the  records  of  the  office  are  of  the 
greatest  value  in  offering  proof  of  unreliability  or  unfitness,  and,  in 
the  case  of  employers,  of  misrepresentation  or  unfairness  in  treat- 
ment of  former  applicants. 

As  employers  have  found  an  office  careful  in  selecting  applicants 
they  have  placed  more  and  more  value  on  its  introduction  card. 
Sometimes  they  refuse  to  hire  anyone  without  such  a  card  and 
this  is  a  recognition  that  the  staff  is  developing  specialists.  Work- 
men soon  learned  the  value  of  the  introduction  card,  and  by  the 
consistent  refusal  of  such  a  card  to  the  unfit  and  unreliable  they 
were  soon  separated  from  the  able  and  willing  workers. 

There  is,  however,  no  rigid  rule  of  unfitness,  and  the  office  force 
does  not  pass  judgment  on  applicants  from  the  one-sided  stand- 
point of  the  employer.  A  man  may  be  unfit  for  a  steady  position, 
but  he  may  be  the  best  kind  of  a  person  for  a  short  job  of  a  day 
or  a  week.  An  applicant  may  refuse  employment  if  wages  or  other 
conditions  do  not  suit  him  as  many  times  as  he  pleases,  provided 


326  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

he  does  not  say  he  will  accept  the  position  and  then  fail  to  keep 
his  promise,  thus  keeping  another  man  from  the  work.  Just  as  the 
employer  may  hire  whom  he  pleases  or  for  as  short  a  period  as  he 
pleases,  so  the  worker  may  accept  what  position  he  pleases  and  for 
as  short  a  period  as  he  pleases,  provided  in  both  cases  that  they 
make  their  intentions  known  to  the  office  force  and  thus  do  injury 
to  no  one. 

Of  course,  the  prime  test  of  the  successful  management  of  an 
employment  office  comes  in  times  of  industrial  disputes.  Experience 
has  shown  that  to  take  sides  with  either  party  to  the  dispute  is 
fatal.  Following  the  most  widely  accepted  German  practice,  the 
Wisconsin  employment  offices  have  adopted  the  policy  of  listing 
demands  for  help  from  employers  whose  workmen  are  on  strike. 
Then  if  the  applicant  wishes  to  be  referred  to  the  employer  he 
knows  the  conditions  and  goes  on  his  own  responsibility.  We  have 
passed  through  several  strikes  with  this  policy,  and  it  has  been 
satisfactory  to  both  employers  and  union  members. 

EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES  AND  UNEMPLOYMENT 

We  have  considered  thus  far  the  functions  of  the  public  employ- 
ment office  as  an  organization  of  the  labor  market  of  a  state  and 
the  practical  administrative  problems  of  such  an  organization. 
Public  employment  offices  have,  however,  an  additional  important 
function  as  an  agency  for  dealing  with  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment. In  any  intelligent  attempt  to  deal  with  the  unemployed  an 
efficient  system  of  employment  offices  must  be  the  first  step. 

We  have  already  seen  how  lack  of  organization  in  the  buying 
and  selling  of  labor  causes  maladjustment  between  demand  for 
labor  and  supply.  If  we  look  more  deeply  into  the  problem  of  un- 
employment we  shall  find  that  it  is  entirely  a  problem  of  maladjust- 
ment. In  the  United  States  at  least,  there  is  no  permanent  surplus 
of  labor  in  excess  of  the  demand.  There  are  places  and  industries 
where  at  times  the  supply  exceeds  the  demand,  and  at  other  times 
in  the  same  places  and  industries  the  demand  exceeds  the  available 
supply.  If  we  consider  the  maximum  demand  for  labor  of  all 
employers  there  is  no  evidence  at  all  to  show  a  surplus  of  labor. 
The  trouble  is  that  the  demand  is  not  a  steady  one,  but  fluctuates 
from  season  to  season,  from  year  to  year,  and  with  the  vicissitudes 
of  competing  employers. 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice        327 

The  problem  is  akin  to  the  electrical  engineer's  difficulty  of  se- 
curing a  constant  load  curve.  The  maximum  demand  for  electric 
light  comes  during  the  long  nights  of  the  winter  months.  The 
capacity  of  the  power  house  must  be  able  to  meet  this  demand, 
but  for  a  large  part  of  the  year  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the 
capacity  will  not  be  called  upon.  Just  so  with  labor.  The  labor 
force  is  not  in  excess  of  the  capacity  demand.  The  demand,  how- 
ever, is  a  fluctuating  one,  and  at  times  from  one-fourth  to  one- 
half  of  it  is  not  wanted. 

Demand  for  labor  is,  as  in  the  case  of  electricity,  really  the 
combined  demands  of  thousands  of  individual  buyers,  each  with  a 
different  and  a  fluctuating  demand.  While  the  total  supply  is  not 
in  excess  of  the  total  maximum  demand,  there  are  constant  malad- 
justments. These  maladjustments  are  of  three  kinds:  (i)  In  re- 
spect to  place.  Wage  earners  may  be  scarce  in  one  place  and  over- 
supplied  in  another.  (2)  As  between  industries  or  occupations. 
Some  may  be  overcrowded  while  others  are  undersupplied.  (3)  In 
respect  to  time.  The  winter  months  usually  show  an  excess  of 
supply  over  demand,  and  some  years  there  may  be  a  scarcity  of 
labor  while  others  show  an  excess. 

Public  employment  offices,  scientifically  managed,  may  be  used 
to  reduce  these  maladjustments,  and,  where  they  cannot  entirely 
abolish  them,  they  can  give  the  facts  which  will  enable  us  to  devise 
means  of  mitigating  their  effects  and  compensating  those  who  must 
bear  the  burdens.  The  offices  must  be  conceived  as  power  houses 
for  labor.  They  must  be  organized  in  each  state  and  country  as 
one  unified  system,  with  one  central  power  house  and  branches  as 
sub-stations.  The  current  of  labor  must  be  directed  away  from  the 
districts  and  industries  which  show  a  slackening  demand  to  where 
the  demand  is  quickening,  just  as  electric  power  houses  shift  the 
current  in  the  evening  and  on  holidays  from  the  business  districts 
to  the  residence  sections. 

This  may  be  accomplished  by  the  exchange  of  lists  of  vacancies 
and  by  the  frequent  circulation  of  labor  market  bulletins.  Not 
the  least  of  the  evils  of  maladjustment  in  the  labor  market  is 
caused  by  the  circulation  of  false  reports  by  employers  and  private 
labor  agents  as  to  the  demand  for  labor.  With  an  accurate  system 
of  statistics  and  daily  reports  from  each  public  office  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  conditions  and  the  transactions  of  our  labor  markets 


328  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

cannot  be  as  reliably  reported  on  the  market  pages  of  our  news- 
papers as  are  the  transactions  of  the  stock  markets,  wheat  pits,  or 
produce  exchanges.  This  will  go  far  toward  eliminating  malad- 
justment in  regard  to  place. 

EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES  AND  THE  LABOR  RESERVE 

Our  analogy  to  an  electrical  plant  suggests  a  more  fundamental 
remedy  for  unemployment,  namely,  the  reduction  of  the  reserve 
of  labor  necessary  to  meet  the  fluctuating  demands  of  industry.  A 
reserve  of  labor  must  ever  be  present  to  allow  for  the  extension  of 
industrial  enterprises  and  for  new  undertakings,  to  meet  the  de- 
mand of  the  busy  months  in  seasonal  industries,  and  to  supply  the 
casual  workers  or  temporary  help  who  are  required  by  every  in- 
dustrial undertaking.  Electrical  engineers  have  discovered  that  it 
is  not  necessary  to  maintain  a  plant  capable  of  supplying  current 
to  all  consumers  in  all  their  connections  at  the  same  time.  Such 
a  demand  is  never  likely  to  occur,  and  all  that  is  really  necessary 
is  a  safe  reserve  to  meet  the  actual  greatest  demands  as  shown  by 
experience.  The  principle  is  the  same  as  that  of  a  bank  reserve. 

Just  so  in  the  labor  market.  Without  a  centralized  employment 
agency  each  plant  tends  to  keep  around  its  gates  the  reserve  that 
it  will  need  during  its  busiest  period  and  to  meet  sudden  demands 
for  labor.  The  total  reserve  of  all  the  employers,  therefore,  tends 
to  become  great  enough  to  meet  the  demand  of  all  the  employers  at 
the  same  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  maximum  demand  is  not 
exerted  by  all  employers  at  the  same  time,  and  if  a  centralized  public 
employment  office  were  established  the  reserve  could  be  greatly 
reduced;  for  the  same  workers  could  be  used  to  supply  the  tempo- 
rary demand  of  different  employers.  Each  individual  employer 
would  have  his  necessary  reserve  available,  but  the  total  reserve 
labor  force  would  need  to  be  only  large  enough  to  meet  actual  de- 
mands rather  than  possible  demands  of  all  employers  at  the  same 
time. 

We  are  not  here  concerned  with  what  will  become  of  those  who 
are  squeezed  out  of  the  reserve.  That  requires  separate  study  as 
a  problem  of  unemployment.  When  the  reserve  is  larger  than  is 
actually  needed,  earnings  are  insufficient  for  all.  We  want  to  elimi- 
nate the  excess  so  that  the  best  may  be  conserved  and  utilized. 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice        329 

EMPLOYMENT  OFFICES  AND  CASUAL  LABOR 

Probably  the  most  perplexing  complication  of  the  unemployment 
problem  is  the  system  of  casual  labor.  The  underemployment  suf- 
fered by  the  large  number  of  short-job  workers  gives  us  our 
greatest  difficulty.  Few  people  realize  the  amount  of  work  in  every 
industrial  community  that  consists  of  short  jobs.  In  Wisconsin 
fully  one- fourth  of  the  total  demand  for  labor  registered  at  the 
employment  offices  is  for  work  lasting  less  than  a  month.  These 
jobs  are  ordinarily  scattered  among  a  lot  of  laborers  far  in  excess 
of  the  number  actually  needed.  Each  laborer  manages  to  get  a 
small  part  of  this  work  and  none  has  an  adequate  income.  We 
have  undertaken  to  concentrate  as  much  of  the  casual  work  as  pos- 
sible on  the  better  workers.  Our  system  of  records  enables  us  to 
pick  out  the  most  efficient  and  to  give  them  a  preference  in  dis- 
tributing this  work.  The  aim  is  to  keep  a  smaller  number  practi- 
cally steadily  employed  by  sending  them  from  one  short  job  to 
another,  and  to  squeeze  out  the  less  efficient.  Because  casual  work 
requires  little  reliability,  skill  or  intelligence,  it  offers  a  field  for 
the  handicapped,  the  aged,  the  inefficient,  the  partially  disabled,  and 
the  drunks.  These  get  a  wholly  inadequate  income  for  themselves, 
and  they  reduce  the  earnings  of  the  others.  By  concentrating  the 
casual  work  on  the  better  workers,  they  might  be  made  self-sup- 
porting, and  the  problem  of  dealing  with  the  aged,  the  disabled  and 
the  unreliable  will  be  simplified. 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

Maladjustment  between  industries  and  occupations  may  also  be 
partially  remedied  by  a  well-organized  system  of  public  employment 
offices.  In  the  United  States  the  ignorance  which  causes  some  trades 
to  be  overcrowded  while  others  are  under-supplied,  comes  from  two 
sources.  First,  children  enter  industry  wholly  unadvised  and  take 
the  first  work  that  offers  itself  after  leaving  school,  regardless  of 
their  fitness  for  it,  or  of  the  opportunities  for  an  adult  to  make  a 
living  at  it.  Secondly,  our  immigrants  act  equally  blindly.  They  are 
uninformed  regarding  possibilities  of  securing  employment  at  work 
similar  to  what  they  did  in  their  native  lands,  and  they  enter  the 
overcrowded  fields  already  occupied  by  their  countrymen. 

As  institutions  for  furnishing  information,  public  employment 
offices  have  as  one  of  their  greatest  functions  to  stand  at  the  entrance 


33°  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

to  the  industrial  world  and  point  the  way  to  children  and  immigrants. 
For  the  former,  cooperation  with  the  schools  is  necessary.  Before 
quitting  school,  children  and  their  parents  should  be  furnished  with 
bulletins  of  information  describing  the  requirements  of  various 
callings  and  the  opportunities  in  them.  These  can  be  prepared  by  the 
officials  of  the  employment  offices,  for  they  are  constantly  in  touch 
with  employers  and  know  the  demands  of  industry.  The  teachers 
can  inform  the  parents  of  the  aptitudes  of  the  children,  and  with 
this  information  a  careful  and  intelligent  choice  can  be  made. 

Similar  measures  can  be  devised  for  immigrants.  The  public 
employment  offices  should  employ  clerks  who  speak  the  languages  of 
the  newcomers.  These  clerks  should  prepare,  in  the  native  tongues 
of  the  immigrants,  bulletins  describing  the  industrial  opportunities 
in  the  state,  and  should  advise  and  direct  the  newcomers  into  the 
most  promising  field.  To  this  end  the  clerks  must  keep  constantly 
in  touch  with  the  evening  schools  for  foreigners  and  with  the  resi- 
dence sections  and  boarding  houses  for  immigrants. 

With  intelligent  and  energetic  efforts  by  the  officials  of  the  public 
employment  offices  thus  to  direct  the  stream  of  new  labor  that 
comes  from  the  schools  and  from  the  farm  lands,  much  of  the 
maladjustment  between  industries  arising  from  ignorance  might  be 
obviated. 

WORK  TESTS 

Little  can  be  done  by  employment  offices  directly  to  remedy  time 
maladjustment.  But  they  are  able  to  furnish  the  information  on 
which  any  adequate  remedy,  such  as  unemployment  insurance,  must 
be  based,  and  for  the  unorganized  workers  they  will  have  to  supply 
the  administrative  machinery  for  testing  the  validity  of  any  wage- 
earner's  claim  that  he  is  unable  to  secure  employment.  As  already 
intimated  in  our  discussion  of  the  reserve  of  labor,  unemployment  is 
as  much  a  permanent  risk  of  industry  as  are  accidents  or  industrial 
disease.  The  extent  of  the  risk  can  be  measured  by  the  transactions 
of  the  labor  exchanges.  When  measures  for  compensating  workers 
for  this  risk  are  devised  they  will  have  to  be  coupled  with  an 
adequate  work  test.  No  wood  pile  or  rock  pile  can  be  such  a  test. 
The  worker  must  be  offered  bona  fide  employment  such  as  is  fitted 
to  his  abilities  and  to  his  station  in  the  industrial  ranks.  Only  a 
well  organized  system  of  emplovment  offices  can  offer  such  em- 


Public  Employment  Offices  in  Theory  and  Practice       331 

ployment,  and  it  is  only  through  such  an  organization  of  the  labor 
market  that  we  can  ever  tell  positively  that  there  is  no  opportunity 
for  the  idle  wage-earner  to  secure  employment. 

In  conclusion,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  these  most  important 
functions  of  employment  offices,  namely,  to  reduce  unnecessary 
idleness  and  to  serve  as  part  of  the  administrative  machinery  of 
dealing  with  the  problem  of  unemployment  will  never  be  undertaken 
by  private  labor  agents  because  there  is  no  incentive  for  them  to  do 
it.  It  involves  expense  for  which  there  is  no  return  except  to  the 
state  as  a  whole  in  securing  the  fullest  application  of  its  labor  force, 
and  in  placing  the  burden  of  unemployment  on  industry,  where  it 
belongs. 


GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

FRANCES  A.  KELLOR,  North  American  Civic  League  for  Immi- 
grants: There  were  two  phases  of  the  discussion  yesterday  which 
impressed  me  very  much.  The  first  was  that  the  unemployment 
problem  is  much  beyond  anything  that  the  city  or  state  can  relieve, 
and  that  at  the  present  time  we  have  no  nation-wide  system  of 
dealing  with  the  nation-wide  problem. 

The  second  fact  brought  out  was  that  we  have  practically  no 
information  on  unemployment.  Representatives  from  one  com- 
munity will  say  that  the  unemployment  is  not  unusual  and  those 
from  other  communities  will  say  that  a  large  number  of  industries 
are  closed  and  many  men  are  out  of  work. 

In  the  matter  of  nation-wide  distribution,  the  federal  Department 
of  Labor  has  under  consideration  at  the  present  time  three  bills  for 
the  establishment  of  a  federal  Bureau  of  Distribution.  The  first 
bill  provides  that  there  shall  be  a  Bureau  of  Distribution  for  the 
purpose  of  distributing  labor  throughout  the  country,  and  that  the 
bureau  shall  have  power  to  establish  employment  agencies,  espe- 
cially at  certain  reserve  points  which  are  primarily  concerned  not 
with  the  city  or  with  the  state,  but  with  the  shipment  of  large 
numbers  of  men  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  The 
bureau  is  to  have  wide  powers  of  investigation  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  supervision  of  transportation,  as  any  plan  of  distribution 
of  labor  must  take  into  consideration  the  transportation  problem. 
One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  has  been  providing  transportation  for 
men  who  were  really  willing  to  go  from  one  point  to  another. 

It  is  also  necessary  that  a  bureau  of  this  kind  should  have  the 
investigation  of  interstate  distribution.  In  the  shipping  of  a  large 
number  of  men  from  one  point  to  another  many  difficult  questions 
will  constantly  arise.  In  my  judgment  any  bureau  of  distribution 
that  the  federal  government  might  see  fit  to  establish  will  not  be 
successful  unless  along  with  it  we  have  the  regulation  of  employ- 
ment agencies  that  do  an  interstate  business.  The  history  of  state 
legislation  on  the  question  of  unemployment  shows  that  unless  the 
agencies  can  be  standardized  a  bureau  will  not  be  successful,  because 
it  is  unable  to  compete  in  any  intelligent  way  with  the  private 
agencies. 


General  Discussion  333 

Therefore  the  second  bill  provides  for  the  regulation  of  employ- 
ment agencies  that  send  employees  from  one  state  to  another,  and 
also  those  which  furnish  laborers  to  persons  or  corporations  doing 
an  interstate  business.  That  is  very  essential. 

We  believe  further,  that  any  nation-wide  distribution  of  labor, 
and  particularly  of  the  labor  which  will  be  the  first  and  immediate 
problem  that  must  be  taken  up  involves  the  question  of  treatment  of 
immigrants.  As  you  know,  large  numbers  of  immigrants  are  sent 
out  as  colonists  to  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  therefore  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  conjunction  with  the  Department  of 
Labor,  is  working  on  a  plan  for  investigating  the  frauds  in  connec- 
tion with  land.  At  present  large  groups  of  immigrants  who  have  no 
way  of  knowing  what  conditions  prevail  are  sent  to  different  points 
by  representatives  of  private  land  companies.  Therefore  any  bureau 
of  distribution  should  consider  the  land  question  in  its  relation  to 
the  distributing  from  the  congested  centers  of  people  who  have  a 
small  amount  of  money. 

The  second  matter,  the  lack  of  information,  has  led  some  of  us  to 
feel  that  there  ought  to  be  a  thorough  study  of  the  question  of 
unemployment  in  this  country ;  that  it  ought  not  to  be  an  investiga- 
tion extending  over  only  one  or  two  months,  but  that  it  should  be 
done  in  a  thorough  way,  a  sound  investigation  covering  from  three 
to  five  years.  The  whole  question  is  so  complicated,  and  there  is  so 
little  reliable  information,  that  it  seems  worth  while  to  take  up  only 
an  investigation  which  will  cover  the  whole  field  in  a  detailed  and 
comprehensive  way. 

Now,  that  investigation,  in  my  judgment,  ought  to  lead  to  several 
different  things:  First,  the  classification  of  the  employables  and 
the  unemployables.  At  present  we  are  making  the  unemployables 
a  charge  upon  industry  when  they  ought  to  be  a  charge  upon  the 
city  or  upon  the  relief  organizations,  and  we  are  making  the  men 
who  could  be  sent  into  industries  if  they  were  properly  classified  a 
charge  upon  relief  societies  when  we  ought  not  to. 

The  second  thing  would  be  to  gather  reliable  statistics.  We  have 
at  the  present  time  no  reliable  statistics.  I  received  word  from  the 
librarian  of  Congress  the  other  day  that  as  far  as  American  condi- 
tions are  concerned  there  are  practically  no  data  since  1908. 

Such  an  investigation  ought  also  to  lead  to  a  reorganization  of 
the  civil  service  work.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  labor  in  the  city 


334  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

departments.  They  carry  large  reserves,  they  have  a  great  deal  of 
departmental  unemployment,  and  such  an  investigation  ought  to 
look  toward  the  establishment  of  some  kind  of  a  bureau  of  employ- 
ment for  city  employees,  so  that  the  work  could  be  regularized.  It 
ought  to  look  also  toward  vocational  guidance.  At  the  present  time 
in  but  one  or  two  cities  which  I  know  of  is  any  effort  being  made  to 
direct  the  children  leaving  schools  into  the  proper  industries.  Very 
often  the  schools  have  no  industrial  feature  at  all. 

I  do  not  know  how  many  of  you  know  about  the  experiment  in 
Cleveland.  The  new  city  charter  there  provides  for  an  unemploy- 
ment division  which  has  three  main  functions.  The  first  function  is 
maintaining  a  city  immigration  bureau.  Cleveland  provides  officers 
to  go  to  the  stations  to  direct  the  newly  arrived  immigrants  and 
help  them  to  find  out  what  they  want  to  know.  A  similar  system  is 
in  operation  in  New  York  city,  in  connection  with  Ellis  Island,  but 
that  is  conducted  by  private  workers. 

The  second  function  of  the  division  is  to  deal  with  unemployment. 
They  have  taken  up  the  question  of  furnishing  employment,  and 
they  are  now  creating  for  the  civil  service  commission  a  bureau  of 
unskilled  labor. 

The  third  function  is  vocational  guidance.  They  are  making  a 
study  of  the  industries  into  which  the  children  go,  and  in  cooperation 
with  the  educational  authorities  they  hope  to  establish  some  kind  of 
a  system  by  which  children  may  be  wisely  guided.  They  have  not  a 
large  appropriation,  but  they  have  a  fine  group  of  union  men  on  this 
work. 

DAVID  VANALSTYNE,  former  Vice-President,  Allis-Chalmers 
Company,  New  York  City:  During  the  recent  period  of  great 
commercial  activity  many  complaints  were  heard  of  the  difficulty 
in  getting  skilled  men. 

The  chief  cause  of  the  scarcity  of  skilled  labor,  however,  is  the 
extreme  fluctuations  in  business,  creating  at  one  time  an  abnormal 
demand  and  at  another  throwing  both  skilled  and  unskilled  labor 
out  of  work. 

There  are  more  skilled  men  and  there  is  skill  of  a  higher  order 
than  ever  before ;  but  by  the  nature  of  things  their  number  is  more 
or  less  adjusted  to  the  average  demand.  There  is  always  available 
a  nucleus  of  these  good  men  who  have  comparatively  steady  work, 


General  Discussion  335 

and  during  the  times  of  extreme  activity  the  only  men  available  are 
those  who  spend  a  considerable  portion  of  their  time  in  idleness. 
In  times  of  great  activity  there  is  no  good  opportunity  to  train  this 
generally  unemployed  increment  and  in  dull  times  idleness  en- 
courages laziness,  indifference  and  a  loss  of  the  little  skill  men 
acquire  while  at  work.  We  are  inconsistent  in  throwing  as  many 
men  as  possible  out  of  work  as  soon  as  business  begins  to  decline 
and  then  complaining  that  they  are  not  capable  of  the  highest  effi- 
ciency when  they  are  employed. 

In  my  opinion  this  is  the  greatest  evil  for  which  our  present 
social  system  is  responsible,  and  it  is  also  the  most  difficult  to 
regulate.  Apprenticeship,  trade  schools  and  like  efforts  to  train 
skilled  workmen  are  all  good  to  a  certain  degree,  but  their  influence 
is  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  influence  of  long  periods  of 
enforced  idleness  to  which  the  laboring  class  is  subjected. 

It  is  important  to  develop  skilled  workmen,  but  it  is  of  much 
greater  importance  to  develop  loyal  American  citizens  who  are  in- 
terested in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  state  and  consequently 
that  of  the  employer. 

It  is  of  such  employees  that  the  employer  makes  the  greatest 
profits  in  the  end. 

There  is  not  much  encouragement  for  a  man  who  spends  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  his  time  in  idleness  to  become  either  the  right 
kind  of  citizen  or  the  right  kind  of  employee. 

This  ever-present  fear  of  being  thrown  out  of  work  makes  men 
hold  back  their  output  in  order  to  make  the  work  last  as  long  as 
possible.  Aside  from  the  inhumanity  of  periodically  depriving  a 
considerable  percentage  of  our  citizens  of  the  means  of  earning  a 
living,  it  would  seem  good  business  policy  in  the  long  run  for  em- 
ployers to  find  some  way  to  keep  a  large  percentage  of  their  em- 
ployees on  the  pay  roll  at  at  least  a  living  wage  during  periods  of 
dull  business,  whether  there  is  work  for  them  or  not;  and  it  is 
probable  that  a  great  deal  more  could  be  done  in  this  direction  than 
is  done. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  day  it  may  be  found  practicable  for 
the  law  to  require  employers  to  take  care  of  a  certain  portion  of 
their  idle  employees  during  periods  of  depression,  and  for  the  gov- 
ernment to  give  employment  to  the  rest  on  public  improvements. 


336  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

LEE  K.  FRANKEL,  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company,  New 
York  City:  Some  of  the  municipal  schemes  of  unemployment  in- 
surance that  have  been  tried  abroad  have  been  distinct  failures, 
and  comparatively  few  have  shown  any  very  brilliant  success. 

I  want  to  speak  particularly  of  the  one  form  of  unemployment 
insurance  that  to  my  mind  has  shown  some  rather  interesting  re- 
sults. Just  how  valuable  they  are  still  remains  to  be  determined. 
I  have  reference  to  the  scheme  of  1907  in  Denmark.  This  is  the 
first  plan  I  recall  under  which  there  is  actual  subvention  from  the 
treasury  of  the  government.  The  man  now  in  charge  of  the  scheme, 
Dr.  Sorensen,  inspector  of  unemployment,  has  been  connected  with 
it  from  the  beginning,  in  1907,  and  was  unanimously  selected  by 
the  labor  organizations.  Dr.  Sorensen  did  in  Denmark  what  was 
found  later  to  be  impossible  in  Norway.  The  very  same  scheme, 
tried  in  Norway,  failed  there. 

I  would  like  to  read  a  few  extracts  from  Dr.  Sorensen's  latest 
report,  to  show  what  might  be  accomplished  in  the  United  States 
in  a  similar  way.  He  says: 

From  March  31,  1912  to  April  I,  1013  the  number  of  authorized  unem- 
ployment funds  has  grown  from  fifty-three,  having  111,187  members,  to 
fifty-five,  having  120,289  members.  Of  these,  55,078  (45.8  per  cent)  live  in 
the  capital,  45,538  (37.8  per  cent)  in  provincial  towns,  and  18,529  (15.4  per 
cent)  in  country  districts.  The  members  have  paid  in  1,317,496  kroners  in 
contributions.  The  state,  according  to  the  act,  pays  a  subsidy  computed  on 
the  basis  of  half  the  sum  of  the  contributions  and  the  voluntary  subsidies 
by  communities.  The  communities,  during  the  fiscal  year  1911-12,  paid  in 
374,114  kroners  and  the  government's  subsidy  was  822,536  kroners,  the 
total  income  of  all  the  funds  being  thus  2,514.16  kroners. 

The  various  expenditures  were  as  follows,  in  kroners: 

Benefit  paid  per  day  of  unemployment i,55i,34i 

"  "      to    unemployed    for    removal    to 

places  where  work  might  be  found 40,112 

Benefit   for  Christmas    33,2io 

"          "     removal  within  the  same  city 21,171 

in  merchandise    2,541 

Expenses  of  administration   240,409 

Total 1,888,785 

To  the  municipal  employment  bureaus  the  sum  of  48,343  kroners  has  been 
paid. 

During  the  five  years  in  which  the  funds  have  been  in  operation,  the 
members  themselves  have  paid  58.7  per  cent  of  the  total  income,  the  state 


General  Discussion  337 

28.4  per  cent,  and  the  communities  12.9  per  cent.  The  cost  of  administration 
has  averaged  9  per  cent  of  the  income,  or  2.08  kroners  per  member. 

While  the  benefit  per  day  varies  from  one  to  two  kroners,  the  amount  of 
contribution  fluctuates  from  4.80  kroners  to  26.00  kroners.  This,  however, 
is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  widely  differing  risk  of  unemployment 
within  the  various  trades,  and  the  difference  in  contributions  paid  is  there- 
fore the  best  possible  proof  of  the  necessity  of  organizing  insurance  against 
unemployment  on  a  trade  basis  and  not — as  has  been  done  in  several  foreign 
countries — dividing  the  country  into  districts  embracing  all  the  various 
trades. 

Twenty-four  of  the  fifty-five  funds  have  increased  the  number  of  days  in 
which  aid  is  granted.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  hitherto  not  much  more 
than  half  the  days  of  unemployment  have  been  indemnified,  it  would  seem 
desirable  to  follow  the  plan  of  increasing  the  number  of  days  of  payment, 
rather  than  to  increase  the  indemnity  per  day. 

Another  evolution  which  is  taking  place  automatically,  as  it  were,  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  movement  away  from  a  uniform  rate  of  benefit,  and  toward 
a  rate  determined  by  the  duration  of  insurance.  It  is  evident  that  by  this 
measure  the  members  are  stimulated  to  keep  up  their  insurance  without 
interruption. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  cooperative  trades  unions  for  1912,  139,012 
workmen  belong  to  these  organizations.  Of  these  no  less  than  120,291  are 
members  of  the  insurance  funds,  and  if  about  20,000  are  still  outside  the 
workings  of  the  insurance,  this  fact  is  explained  almost  entirely  by  the 
special  character  of  these  workers.  (They  include  railroad,  municipal  and 
traction  employees,  and  sailors.) 

The  Danish  people  have  on  the  whole  been  so  satisfied  with  this 
plan  that  they  are  continuing  it.  It  is  tending  to  reduce  unemploy- 
ment, and  the  tendency  at  the  present  moment  is  not  to  increase  the 
per  diem  benefit,  but  rather  to  increase  the  number  of  those  to 
whom  benefit  is  paid. 

It  seems  to  me  that  here  may  be  the  opportunity  for  an  attempt 
in  the  United  States.  If  unemployment  insurance  is  really  con- 
sidered favorably,  the  labor  unions  are  the  organizations  through 
which  it  should  be  conducted,  and  the  Danish  scheme,  of  all  that  I 
have  had  any  opportunity  of  studying,  does  seem  to  have  given, 
so  far  at  least,  the  best  results. 

ROYAL  MEEKER,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics : 
I  want  to  pledge  my  loyal  support  to  any  movement  that  will  make 
for  the  coordination  of  the  work  of  the  various  federal,  state  and 
municipal  agencies  in  respect  to  unemployment.  Since  I  have  had 
charge  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  I  have  planned,  among  other 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

things,  a  very  complete  investigation  into  unemployment.  In  that 
investigation  it  is  my  purpose  to  cooperate  as  fully  with  the  state 
agencies  and  the  other  governmental  agencies  as  they  will  allow  me, 
in  getting  at  just  the  figures  that  are  demanded  by  the  speakers  who 
have  addressed  you — the  figures  on  the  amount  of  unemployment 
in  the  country.  One  of  the  speakers  said  that  such  an  investigation 
should  not  be  completed  in  five  or  six  weeks,  but  that  it  should 
run  over  a  period  of  from  three  to  five  years.  I  do  not  agree  with 
that.  I  think  it  should  be  made  a  permanent  job,  and  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  federal  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  is  the  organized  agency 
which  should  undertake  that  job.  We  know  actually  nothing  about 
unemployment  in  this  country.  I  do  not  know  why  the  federal 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  does  not  tackle  that  job  first  of  all.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  vastly  more  important  that  we  should  know 
the  number  of  jobs  in  existence,  and  of  men,  than  that  we  should 
undertake  to  investigate  as  to  labor  and  wages.  Congress  does  not 
think  so,  evidently.  I  hope  that  this  conference  may  present  to  our 
Congressmen  additional  light  on  the  subject,  so  that  they  may  have 
another  "think"  in  that  direction. 

As  soon  as  it  is  at  all  possible,  the  survey  of  employment  condi- 
tions will  be  put  into  active  operation.  I  prefer  to  call  it  by  that 
name,  because  such  a  survey  should  be  a  survey  not  merely  of  un- 
employment, but  also  of  employment,  of  under-employment,  of 
over-employment,  of  health  and  accident  conditions  in  industry. 

By  cooperation  with  the  state  agencies  I  mean  just  this :  If  a  state 
has  covered  the  question  of  employment  properly,  I  see  no  reason 
why  the  federal  agencies  should  duplicate  the  work.  On  the  other 
hand,  where  states  are  making  no  effort  to  find  out  how  much  un- 
employment exists  within  their  borders,  there  is  a  motive  and  a 
field  for  the  federal  agency  to  enter.  The  same  applies  to  the  invesci- 
gation  of  accident  and  health  conditions  in  industry. 

Another  investigation  that  should  be  carried  on  is  an  investigation 
into  vocational  education.  There  has  been  a  tendency  to  put  faith  in 
panaceas.  Personally  I  do  not  believe  very  much  in  panaceas  of  any 
kind.  I  do  not  believe  in  these  universal  patent  remedies  that  are 
warranted  to  cure  everything,  from  corns  to  consumption.  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  any  one  panacea  to  be  applied  to  solving  the 
unemployment  problem.  There  are  a  great  many  things  we  need  to 
know  a  good  deal  more  about  before  we  will  be  ready  to  say  that  we 


General  Discussion  339 

are  in  a  position 'to  solve  unemployment.  One  of  these  things  is 
vocational  education.  Just  what  trade  can  be  carried  on  in  the 
public  schools,  what  trade  must  of  necessity  be  carried  on  within  the 
industries  themselves,  must  be  determined.  Such  an  investigation  1 
am  ready  to  undertake. 

I  do  not  believe  in  too  much  investigation.  In  some  respects  we 
are  suffering  from  over-investigation.  We  all  know  that  there  are 
unemployed,  and  we  know  some  of  the  remedies  to  be  applied  to 
unemployment,  in  order  to  mitigate  the  evil  influences  of  this  condi- 
tion. Let  us  by  all  means  begin  to  apply  the  remedies  that  we  know 
of.  Let  us  not  wait  until  we  get  the  minutes  from  the  last  meeting 
held  on  the  Great  Judgment  Day  before  we  begin  to  do  anything 
at  all. 

We  also  know  that  there  are  occupations  which  may  be  described 
as  unfit  occupations.  Let  us  apply  the  knowledge  that  we  have  in 
our  possession  at  once.  We  also  know  that  there  are  unfit  occupiers 
of  certain  jobs.  We  know  the  remedy.  Let  us  apply  the  remedy 
now  before  investigating  further,  so  that  we  may  have  a  completer 
knowledge,  and  more  adequate  remedies. 

MILES  M.  DAWSON,  Consulting  Actuary,  New  York  City:  As 
secretary  of  the  International  Congress  on  Social  Insurance,  to  be 
held  in  this  country  in  1915,  which  will  take  up  as  one  part  of  its 
program  insurance  against  unemployment,  I  am  very  glad  to  add  a 
few  remarks  to  what  Dr.  Frankel  has  said. 

There  is  in  active  operation  now  in  Norway  a  system  similar 
to  that  in  operation  in  Denmark.  There  was  very  active  opposition 
by  the  labor  organizations  originally  to  such  a  scheme.  In  Denmark 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  men  and  women  who  work  for 
wages  are  organized;  in  Norway  a  considerably  smaller  proportion 
are  organized. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  for  us  to  realize  many  of 
the  things  that  have  been  done  in  Europe,  at  least  as  well  as  they 
are  doing  them  there.  I  am  quite  confident  that  in  my  home  state 
of  Wisconsin  they  can  add  to  the  splendid  system  of  labor  exchanges 
they  have  established  a  system  of  insurance  against  unemployment, 
and  that  the  system  will  in  that  state  be  quite  as  successful  as  in 
any  other  place  in  the  world.  I  am  confident  likewise  that  this  can 
be  done  soon,  and  that  it  can  be  done  soon  in  the  state  of  New  York 
as  well  as  in  Wisconsin. 


34°  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

We  have  already  seen  within  the  last  three  years  a  mcist  re- 
markable development  of  public  insurance,  of  workmen's  compen- 
sation, which  five  years  ago  was  believed  by  everybody,  including 
those  who  thought  it  might  be  the  best  solution  of  the  problem,  to 
be  absolutely  out  of  the  question.  It  was  stated  to  Dr.  Frankel 
and  myself  in  London  over  five  years  ago  by  Mr.  John  Burns,  of 
the  cabinet,  that  anything  like  compulsory  insurance  of  any  char- 
acter was  utterly  out  of  the  question  in  Great  Britain.  And 
scarcely  more  than  a  year  later,  bills  were  introduced  by  Lloyd 
George,  in  favor  of  compulsory  insurance. 

We  are  moving  quickly.  It  is  very  desirable  that  we  should  have 
such  a  development.  The  chances  are  that  if  we  do  not  have 
something  done  rather  promptly  by  some  state,  there  will  be  an 
effort  to  deal  with  it  in  a  small  way  in  relatively  small  communi- 
ties. These  experiments  have  never  been  very  successful  anywhere 
in  the  world,  and  they  cannot  be,  because  they  do  not  provide  for 
the  mobility  of  labor,  which  is  absolutely  essential  for  a  correct 
system.  Moreover,  they  get  very  little  opportunity  for  a  study  of 
the  causes  of  unemployment.  If  we  to-day  knew  thoroughly  the 
cause  of  unemployment,  a  very  large  proportion  of  it  could  be 
alleviated,  and  we  cannot  get  at  this  through  schemes  of  insurance 
applied  to  a  single  community.  A  state  is  none  too  large,  and  after 
a  time  our  nation  would  be  none  too  large. 

Louis  I.  DUBLIN,  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company,  New 
York  City:  Previous  speakers  have  already  pointed  out,  with  ref- 
erence to  Great  Britain  and  Denmark,  the  developments  in  un- 
employment insurance  to  cover  the  situations  in  those  two  countries. 
But  other  countries  have  realized  for  some  ten  years  the  fact  that 
unemployment  is  one  of  the  hazards  of  industry,  and  that,  like 
sickness  and  accident,  such  a  hazard  can  be  covered  by  some  form 
of  insurance. 

The  German  imperial  statistical  bureau,  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Zacher,  has  kept  in  touch  very  closely  with  the  situation  in 
several  countries,  and  has,  on  the  basis  of  official  reports,  brought 
together  a  statement  showing  the  exact  condition  of  the  several 
countries  with  regard  to  unemployment  insurance. 

It  was  a  very  great  pleasure  to  have  this  opportunity  to  serve 
the  Association  and  to  make  available  for  American  readers  this 


General  Discussion  341 

very  valuable  report  of  Dr.  Zacher's.  He  has  divided  the  field 
under  the  followhig  heads:  First  he  has  considered  those  coun- 
tries where  there  is  a  legal  regulation  of  unemployment  insurance — 
that  is,  Great  Britain,  Norway  and  Denmark — Great  Britain  being 
the  one  country  with  a  compulsory  scheme,  nation-wide.  Norway 
and  Denmark  both  have  voluntary  insurance  schemes.  For  these 
countries  the  summary  gives  the  nature  of  the  insurance  laws,  the 
scope — that  is,  the  industries  covered — ,  the  form  of  the  insurance, 
indicating  the  administrative  control,  the  dues  and  the  benefits,  and, 
finally,  the  methods  of  appeal. 

Second,  reference  is  made  to  those  countries  which  have  volun- 
tary unemployment  insurance  by  workmen's  societies,  with  legal 
regulation.  Luxemburg,  France,  Holland,  Belgium,  Switzerland  and 
Italy  are  included  under  that  head,  and  data  are  given  as  to  the  so- 
cieties which  control  this  unemployment  insurance,  the  extent  of  the 
membership,  the  dues  and  benefits,  the  number  of  persons  unem- 
ployed, and  other  points.  Third  are  given  the  countries  with 
provision  for  voluntary  unemployment  funds  without  subsidy.  That 
is  somewhat  different  from  the  voluntary  unemployment  insurance. 
Fourth  are  the  communal  unemployment  insurance  funds  which 
are  subsidized  for  particular  industrial  societies.  These  apply  to  the 
provinces  of  Germany  alone. 

Finally,  there  are  public  voluntary  unemployment  insurance 
funds,  which  apply  especially  to  Bavaria,  Prussia  and  Wurttemberg. 
The  table  also  gives  the  significant  statistics  for  the  last  year.1 

MRS.  HAVILAND  H.  LUND,  National  Forward  to  the  Land  League, 
New  York  City:  While  we  are  groaning  about  the  high  cost  of 
living,  and  the  organizations  are  marching  in  the  streets  and  invading 
our  churches,  it  seems  that  we  have  overlooked  one  very  simple  thing 
that  would  solve  this  problem  for  perhaps  three  classes.  I  am 
interested  in  the  Forward  to  the  Land  League.  As  you  are  all  city 
people  I  suppose  you  think  I  mean  that  I  want  everybody  to  go 
out  of  the  towns  to  the  farm.  I  do  not.  I  think  that  kind  of  a 
farm  proposition  will  never  attract  any  one,  and  will  never  hold 
city  people. 

I  believe,  however,  that  farm  life  can  be  made  attractive,  and 

*For  this  table,  see  Section  VII,  The  Present  Status  of  Unemployment 
Insurance. 


342  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

that  the  social  life  of  the  farm  may  be  developed  so  that  it  will 
be  attractive.  I  do  not  think  we  ought  to  send  people  out  to  the 
land  unless  we  create  the  right  kind  of  a  community  for  them,  and 
they  should  only  be  sent  with  an  instructor  from  an  agricultural 
college,  to  teach  them  what  to  do. 

I  know  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  are  anxious,  and  also 
some  who  are  not  anxious,  for  this  kind  of  a  life.  There  is  the  man 
who  is  too  old  to  hold  his  job;  he  would  be  glad  of  a  chance  to  go 
out  on  the  land.  Then  there  is  the  man  who  is  not  well  enough  to 
remain  in  the  city,  but  yet  has  a  certain  amount  of  strength ;  while 
he  cannot  stand  a  full  working  day  he  can  put  in  a  number  of  hours 
of  good  open-air  work,  and  that  would  restore  his  health.  The 
Salvation  Army  has  several  very  successful  colonies  made  up  of 
people  from  the  cities.  Of  course  there  were  some  who  had  to  be 
weeded  out,  but  the  vast  majority  of  those  going  out  with  money 
loaned  to  them  have  made  good.  San  Diego  is  furnishing  the 
ground,  the  construction  and  the  housing  for  its  "hoboes",  and  a 
very  heavy  percentage  of  those  "hoboes"  have  made  good.  Why? 
Because  they  were  not  working  for  the  city,  they  had  the  opportunity 
of  buying  their  own  piece  of  land,  and  they  made  good  through  the 
loan  of  funds. 

We  are  busy  in  our  organization  perfecting  a  system  of  farming 
and  rural  credits,  so  that  there  will  be  money  available  for  people 
who  have  to  start  on  money  loaned  to  them.  Many  business  people 
have  said  that  the  plan  of  taking  people  upon  the  land  in  groups, 
so  that  they  are  not  lonely,  and  of  loaning  them  money  for  their 
stock,  is  an  advisable  thing.  Here  we  are  with  acres  and  acres  of 
vacant  land,  all  of  us  paying  too  much  for  everything  that  we  eat, 
and  we  are  wondering  what  to  do  with  these  people.  Why  cannot 
municipal  funds  be  used  in  fitting  up  tracts  of  land  within  easy 
access  of  markets,  and  putting  these  people  out  with  instructors 
and  giving  them  their  start  ?  I  am  very  sure  that  an  organized  effort 
to  bring  about  a  development  of  that  sort  would  meet  with  an 
immense  response  from  many  of  the  unemployed. 

SIMON  LUBIN,  California:  I  happen  to  be  a  member  of  the 
California  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing,  which  is  de- 
voting some  attention  to  the  matter  of  the  protection  of  the  im- 
migrants from  exploitation,  and  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the 


General  Discussion  343 

education  of  the  immigrant  through  public  and  private  sources.  We 
feel  that  fundamentally  the  immigration  question  is  not  very  differ- 
ent from  the  unemployment  question.  There  is  this  difference: 
in  general  we  have  the  right  to  divide  the  unemployed  into  two 
groups,  the  employable  and  the  unemployable;  but  assuming  that 
the  federal  government  has  thus  divided  the  immigrants  at  the 
port  of  entry,  there  is  then  only  one  group  among  them — the 
employable. 

We  see  nothing  but  problems  so  far  in  our  work.  We  wonder 
whether  your  state  or  your  federal  employment  bureaus,  if  they 
received  word  that  3,000  men  were  demanded  on  one  ranch  in  the 
state  of  California,  would  send  the  men — particularly  when  the 
bureaus  knew  that  that  demand  would  be  for  only  twenty-one  days, 
picking  hops. 

We  hope  that  a  great  deal  will  come  of  the  discussion  of  insur- 
ance, and  then  we  wonder  to  what  class  the  3,000  hop-pickers  who, 
as  such,  work  twenty-one  days  a  year,  should  belong  in  your  in- 
surance scheme. 

We  hope  that  the  United  States  Industrial  Relations  Commis- 
sion which,  it  has  been  announced,  is  studying  this  problem,  will 
get  somewhere.  Meanwhile,  we  are  trying  to  prepare  our  end  of 
the  game. 

JOHN  MARTIN,  New  York  City  Board  of  Education:  Education 
is  related  to  this  problem,  as  Dr.  Meeker  suggested.  The  schools 
should,  if  their  functions  are  properly  performed,  prevent  the 
further  increase  of  the  unemployable.  Of  course  the  schools  cannot 
touch  the  imbecile,  the  defective-minded;  but  if  we  fulfill  our 
function  properly  the  child  who  comes  to  us  with  normal  mental 
equipment  should  be  sent  out  in  such  condition  as  to  be  safeguarded 
against  becoming  unemployable.  We  are  trying  in  New  York 
city  to  go  beyond  that,  by  giving  such  vocational  training  and 
guidance  as  will  give  to  the  scholars  a  great  advantage  in  industrial 
work,  and  give  them  an  advantage  over  others  that  may  prevent 
them  from  becoming  unemployable. 

We  are  finding  various  grave  peculiar  difficulties  which  very 
few  conferences  ever  discuss.  For  a  year  now  I  have  been  en- 
gaged with  some  school  superintendents  in  trying  to  discover  some 
industrial  process  common  to  a  number  of  occupations,  so  that  it 


344  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

could  be  taught  to  children  in  the  schools.  We  do  not  want  to 
try  to  teach  trades  to  the  children  who  have  not  been  graduated, 
but  we  may  teach  some  industrial  processes  which,  being  common 
to  a  variety  of  occupations,  and  being  of  a  simple  character,  can 
be  mastered  by  the  children  and  can  be  taught  in  such  a  way  as  to 
develop  their  industrial  intelligence.  Miss  Alice  P.  Barrows  has. 
been  trying,  by  making  a  survey  of  a  number  of  occupations  in  New 
York  city,  and  by  examining  minutely  into  the  processes  in  a  variety 
of  occupations,  to  get  for  us  a  list  of  the  specific  things  that  can 
be  taught  with  simple  machinery  in  the  class  room,  to  children  of 
fourteen,  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  so  that  those  children 
would  be  adaptable  in  industry,  would  be  able  to  turn  regularly 
from  one  simple  occupation  to  another  and  would  also  have  their 
intelligence  developed  so  that  they  would  be  better  equipped  to  fit 
in  with  the  inevitable  fluctuations  of  occupation.  So  far  we  have 
not  had  very  much  success  in  that  search.  However,  we  are  going 
ahead  experimenting  and  we  are  going  ahead  also  developing  such 
experiments  as  have  proved  successful.  Only  this  week  we  have 
decided  to  establish  in  a  school  which  is  attended  exclusively  by 
children  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  the  following  experiment : 
We  will  install  simple  machinery  which  will  cost  $5,000.  There 
will  be  six  courses,  one  commercial  course  and  four  industrial 
courses — machine  work,  wood  work,  plumbing  and  electrical  work. 
In  addition  there  will  be  the  usual  academic  course.  Each  child 
submitted  to  this  experiment  will  be  put  for  nine  weeks  in  each 
of  these  courses,  to  determine  as  far  as  possible  the  aptitude  of 
the  child,  whether  for  commercial,  for  specific  industrial,  or  for 
the  academic  work.  When  the  child's  special  aptitude,  after  nine 
weeks'  pretty  intensive  trial  in  each  one  of  these  departments,  is 
determined,  there  may  be  the  opportunity  of  concentrating  on  that 
variety  of  work  for  which  he  may  be  best  fitted,  for  the  remainder 
of  the  school  year. 

Some  educators,  including  the  city  superintendent,  are  quite  doubt- 
ful about  the  desirability  of  such  a  course  on  the  ground  that  no 
child  should  begin  to  specialize  until  at  least  eight  years  of  school 
work  in  the  ordinary  academic  subjects  have  been  completed.  But 
so  anxious  are  we  to  do  everything  that  the  schools  can  properly  do 
in  preparation  for  industrial  life,  that  we  are  going  to  run  the  risk 
of  offending  those  who  hold  this  position.  Only  this  last  week  I 


General  Discussion  345 

have  examined  two  loft  buildings  in  Brooklyn,  where  we  shall 
establish  by  September,  I  hope,  a  trade  school  for  girls  and  a  trade 
school  for  boys,  on  tne  pattern  which  has  already  proven  successful 
here  in  Manhattan.  We  have  opened  this  year  an  evening  school 
of  industrial  art;  we  have  opened  a  trade  school  at  Murray  Hill. 
These  things  have  a  relation  to  the  subject  especially  under  dis- 
cussion this  morning,  because  it  is  increasingly  evident  that  for 
continuous  employment  there  must  be  great  adaptability  on  the 
part  of  the  worker.  If  you  are  going  to  dovetail  employments  the 
workers  evidently  must  not  be  of  the  highest  skill  in  one  occu- 
pation and  incapable  of  adopting  another,  but  must  have  industrial 
intelligence  and  wide  acquaintance  with  machinery  and  industrial 
processes,  so  that  they  may  be  able  easily  to  pass  from  one  to  the 
other. 

JOHN  A.  KINGSBURY,  New  York  City  Commissioner  of  Charities: 
I  regret  that  I  cannot  make  any  definite  contribution  as  to  present 
and  immediate  remedies  except,  perhaps,  to  say  that  since  this 
problem  has  been  agitated,  during  these  past  two  months,  I  think 
that  almost  every  conceivable  suggestion,  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  looking  toward  a  solution,  immediate  and  ultimate,  of 
this  problem,  has  been  sent  to  the  mayor  of  New  York,  who  has, 
because  of  his  other  troubles,  passed  them  on  to  me.  I  have  con- 
sidered most  of  these  suggestions  with  great  care,  and  the  thing 
that  has  impressed  me  above  all  is  that  the  so-called  plans  for  im- 
mediate solution,  all  the  immediate  proposals,  have  seemed  to  me  to 
be,  without  exception,  unsound. 

I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  speak  with  any  authority  on  this  sub- 
ject, but  I  have  read  Mr.  Beveridge's  book  and  also  Mr.  Leiser- 
son's  report ;  and  most  of  the  things  which  I  was  ready  to  suggest, 
such  as  temporary  work  and  a  few  similar  things,  I  found  by  ex- 
amining this  literature  had  all  been  tried  in  other  places  and  failed 
in  most  instances.  The  thing  that  has  been  borne  in  upon  me  is 
this :  that  this  is  one  of  the  biggest  problems  that  we  have  to  face 
in  this  country,  and  that  thus  far  America  has  failed  lamentably — 
we  have  almost  disgraced  ourselves  in  our  failure  to  tackle  it  be- 
fore this  time. 

I  want  to  echo  the  hope  that  has  been  previously  expressed,  that 
this  conference  will  get  somewhere.  I  should  like  to  tell  you  a 


346  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

story  I  heard  in  Chicago.  I  understand  there  was  a  conference 
held  there  by  some  very  wealthy  persons  to  consider  this  general 
problem.  There  was  a  rich  banquet,  and  after  the  toasts  were 
over  one  gentleman  rose  to  make  a  few  remarks.  He  said :  "When 
I  came  into  this  beautiful  banquet  hall,  and  looked  around  at  these 
gorgeous  draperies,  and  these  fine  furnishings,  and  saw  this  ex- 
pensive linen  and  silverware, — I  looked  about  and  I  thought  of  the 
poor  unfortunate  persons  in  Chicago, — and  I  thought  of  the  poor 
unemployed  persons  in  Chicago — and — and  I  am  so  overcome  with 
feeling  for  the  poor  unfortunate  persons  in  Chicago  who  are  unem- 
ployed,— I  am  so  overcome  that — that  I  sit  down."  And  he  sat 
down.  Another  diner  arose  and  said,  "I  also  couldn't  help  thinking 
all  the  time  of  the  poor  unemployed  persons  in  Chicago.  But  I  do 
not  sit  down!  I  move  that  we  do  something  for  the  poor  unem- 
ployed persons  in  Chicago !  I  move  that  we  give — three  cheers  for 
the  poor  unemployed  persons  in  Chicago!" 

Now,  I  hope  that  this  conference  will  get  somewhere,  as  I  said 
before,  and  that  it  won't  simply  be  a  case  of  giving  three  cheers 
for  the  unemployed. 

If  any  present  would  like  to  visit  the  municipal  lodging  house  I 
would  be  glad  to  arrange  to  have  them  see  how  we  are  trying  to 
take  care  this  winter  of  from  1,500  to  2,000  men  and  women,  how 
we  have  met  the  situation,  and  doubled  the  capacity  of  the  municipal 
lodging  house  in  a  few  days  after  Mayor  Mitchell  came  into  office. 
I  want  to  say  also  that  there  is  no  need  of  opening  the  churches 
or  the  armories  at  all.  It  is  absolutely  the  most  absurd  thing  that 
can  be  done  at  this  time,  because  it  will  attract  people  here  who  are 
unemployable.  We  are  handling  the  situation  as  iar  as  we  can. 

F.  C.  LEUBUSCHER,  President,  Society  to  Lower  Rents  and  Re- 
duce Taxes  on  Homes:  The  admirable  purpose  of  your  confer- 
ence, to  reduce  unemployment,  commends  itself  to  all  right-minded 
citizens. 

The  fact  that  in  1900  over  6,000,000  working  people,  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  all  those  engaged  in  gainful  occupations,  were  at  some 
time  of  the  year  out  of  work  and  that,  of  these,  some  3,000,000  lost 
from  one  to  three  months  each,  is  alarming.  While  the  figures  for 
the  last  census  are  not  available,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
there  is  any  material  improvement  in  the  labor  situation. 


General  Discussion  347 

Naturally  your  conference  is  seeking  the  causes  of  unemployment. 
We  submit  for  your  consideration  the  following  facts : 

This  country  has  given  away  or  bartered  most  of  its  natural 
resources. 

We  have  given  to  a  few  corporations  and  individuals  the  right 
to  levy  tribute  upon  the  users  of  these  natural  resources,  the  capital- 
ization of  which  they  are  constantly  increasing. 

We  are  increasingly  shutting  people  out  from  access  to  the  soil. 

While  perfecting  the  machinery  of  bringing  jobless  people  to  jobs 
is  important,  the  number  of  jobs  is  too  limited  to  permit  this  feat 
to  settle  the  problem.  More  jobs  are  needed. 

President  Charles  R.  Van  Hise  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
in  his  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources  says : 

The  better  part  of  the  public  domain  has  now  passed  to  private  parties,  and 
during  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  land  hunger  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  was  for  the  first 
time  unsatisfied. 

President  Van  Hise  states  that  the  good  lands  were  gone  a  score 
of  years  ago. 

Out  of  the  original  public  domain  of  the  United  States,  amount- 
ing to  1,441,436,160  acres,  571,631,482  acres  had  been  disposed  of 
to  individuals  or  to  corporations  by  June  30,  1909,  and  153,505,500 
acres  had  been  granted  to  states  for  various  purposes.  Thus  a 
total  of  725,136,982  acres,  including  most  of  the  best  land  of  the 
country,  had  been  disposed  of  to  individuals  or  to  corporations,  or 
for  specified  purposes.  There  are  still  324,478,060  acres  included  in 
reservations,  363,338,943  acres  are  unreserved  and  unappropriated, 
and  28,483,075  acres  are  unaccounted  for. 

Of  the  571,631,482  acres  of  desirable  land,  disposed  of  to  indi- 
viduals and  to  corporations,  123,718,338  acres  were  granted  imme- 
diately to  corporations;  while  out  of  the  grants  under  the  home- 
stead and  similar  laws,  only  105,555,790  acres  were  taken  by  small 
holders,  while  163,718,338  acres  were  taken  by  corporations  and 
other  large  holders. 

Not  fewer  than  100,000,000  acres  of  coal  land  were  disposed  of  as 
agricultural  lands.  Much  of  this  land  was  disposed  of  by  the'  gov- 
ernment for  a  tenth,  or  less,  of  its  true  value. 

President  Van  Hise  is  also  authority  for  the  statement  that  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  owns  over  50  per  cent  of  the 
available  iron  ores  of  the  country. 


34^  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Former  Commissioner  of  Corporations  Smith  states  that  195 
holders  have  over  a  third  of  the  privately  owned  timber  of  the 
country.  The  value  of  the  timber,  exclusive  of  the  land,  is  at  least 
$6,000,000,000. 

The  value  of  farm  lands  in  the  United  States  increased  by 
118.1  per  cent  from  1909  to  1910. 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Agricultural  Credit,  discussing  the 
burdens  on  the  small  tenant  farmer,  says: 

Under  these  conditions — rising  land  values  and  cumulative  taxation — the 
land  is  slowly  but  surely  passing  away  from  resident  ownership  to  landlord 
ownership.  Farm  tenancy  is  undeniably  on  the  increase. 

In  1911,  the  total  revenue  receipts  in  193  cities  of  the  country 
having  a  population  of  30,000  or  more,  was  $805,720,133,  while 
the  total  receipts  from  taxes  were  $552,798,570.  The  chief  other 
sources  of  revenue  were  earnings  of  public  service  enterprises, 
$85,416,575;  subventions  and  grants,  $32,944,465;  earnings  of  gen- 
eral departments,  $17,270,578. 

Of  the  nearly  $553,000,000  of  taxes,  $485,000,000  was  paid  by 
general  property  and  over  $50,970,000  in  direct  business  taxes. 

The  funded  and  special  assessment  debts  of  these  cities  at  the 
close  of  the  year  was  $2,505,000,000,  the  net  debt  $1,880,306,926; 
while  the  interest  charges  were  over  $101,000,000 — more  than  an 
eighth  of  the  total  expenditure. 

The  land  of  these  cities,  with  a  population  of  28,559,142,  was 
worth  at  least  $18,000,000,000  full  value.  The  ground  rent,  calcu- 
lated at  6  per  cent  upon  this  value,  amounted  to  $1,080,000,000, 
while  an  annual  increase  in  value  of  the  land  of  only  3  per  cent 
would  give  the  owners  a  bonus  of  $540,000,000;  i.e.,  the  ownership 
of  land  in  these  193  cities  was  worth  to  the  lucky  people  about 
$1,620,000,000,  or  more  than  twice  the  total  revenue  receipts,  and 
nearly  three  times  the  receipts  from  taxes.  The  total  taxes  paid 
by  land,  plus  assessments  upon  land,  did  not  exceed,  at  a  most  con- 
servative estimate,  $325,000,000,  or  less  than  one-third  of  the  ground 
rent  and  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  worth  of  land  ownership. 

During  this  year  these  cities  increased  their  net  debts  by  over 
$148,000,000.  On  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  total  debt  4  per  cent 
interest  or  higher  was  being  paid. 

It  is  evidently  of  supreme  and  immediate  importance  therefore 
that  we  should  recognize  that  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  unem- 


General  Discussion  349 

ployment  involves  not  merely  national  and  subsidiary  employment 
agencies,  and  the  organization  of  seasonal  industries  to  complement 
each  other. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  unemployment  involves  the  re- 
moval of  present  restricting  and  paralyzing  taxes  upon  industry  and 
the  levying  of  heavy  taxes  upon  the  land,  including  the  mines,  so 
that  the  wealth  of  the  country  may  not  be  monopolized  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few  to  the  injury  of  the  vast  majority. 

At  present  natural  resources — land  and  mineral  wealth — are  taxed 
at  a  very  low  rate  and  are  held  out  of  use  and  unproductive,  while 
energy,  initiative  and  industry  are  restricted  by  the  heavy  taxes 
levied  thereon. 

As  President  Van  Hise  stated  in  1912: 

A  conservative  administration  now  indorses  the  principle  that  private  inter- 
ests should  not  be  free  to  levy  such  tribute  upon  the  people  as  they  may 
determine  in  reference  to  so  fundamental  a  necessity  as  coal. 

Conservative  but  constructive  statesmanship  must  not  merely  in- 
dorse but  act  upon  this  principle  with  reference  to  all  natural 
resources. 

In  conclusion,  we  submit  that  the  most  important  factor  in  the 
solution  of  unemployment  is  the  following  finding  of  the  London 
Conference  on  Unemployment  in  1908: 

That  drastic  legislation  for  taxing  land  values  and  for  enabling  public 
authorities  to  compulsorily  acquire  land  on  the  most  favorable  terms,  is 
urgently  needed  to  bring  all  land  into  useful  and  productive  occupation. 

MANUEL  F.  BEHAR,  National  Liberal  Immigration  League,  New 
York  City:  In  view  of  the  sentiment  frequently  expressed  here 
that  relief  from  unemployment  is  to  a  large  extent  to  be  sought 
through  further  restriction  of  immigration,  I  would  like  to  read  the 
following  letter  on  the  subject  which  I  received  only  a  day  or  two 
ago  from  President  Emeritus  Charles  W.  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  and  of 
which  the  closing  paragraph  is  particularly  significant: 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  Feb.  24,  1914. 
Dear  Sir: 

At  your  request,  I  declare  that  I  see  no  reason  to  change  any  of  the  state- 
ments in  my  letter  to  the  National  Liberal  Immigration  League  of  Jan.  10, 
1911,  in  regard  to  either  fact  or  theory.  The  same  scarcity  of  labor  which 
I  described  three  years  ago  still  persists  in  the  United  States,  and  will  persist 
for  many  years  to  come,  because  of  the  sparseness  of  our  population  and  the 


35°  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

enormous  unused  resources  of  the  country  which  require  for  their  develop- 
ment both  new  capital  and  additional  labor. 

The  inexpedient  congestion  of  population  in  some  American  cities  is  not 
yet  sensibly  relieved ;  but  there  are  many  signs  of  improvement  in  this  respect, 
such,  for  instance,  as  in  the  placing  of  new  industrial  plants  in  the  country  or 
in  small  cities  and  making  these  plants  moderate  in  size.  The  telephone  and 
telegraph,  the  automobile,  the  parcel  post,  and  the  local  electric  railways  for 
both  passengers  and  freight  will  surely  relieve  this  congestion  in  time.  Due 
consideration  for  the  public  health  and  the  national  efficiency  requires  the 
better  distribution  of  factories  and  their  operatives. 

The  unemployment  in  the  industries  which  have  an  active  season  followed 
by  a  dull  one  is  also  being  relieved  by  the  practice  of  the  laborers  themselves 
and  of  the  railway  and  steamship  companies.  Laborers  by  the  thousands 
nowadays  are  carried  where  they  are  needed  in  the  active  season  and  when 
they  are  no  longer  wanted  they  go  home,  or  even  back  to  Italy,  for  the  dull 
season.  Thus,  the  immense  majority  of  the  laborers  in  seasonal  trades  have 
learned,  or  are  learning,  to  take  care  of  themselves,  although  the  weak  or 
improvident  among  them  have  still  to  be  aided  for  brief  periods  at  the  public 
expense,  or  by  private  charities. 

The  activities  of  benevolent  and  patriotic  persons  should  be  directed  to  the 
permanent  relief  of  the  city  congestions,  and  to  the  temporary  relief  of  the 
unfortunate,  incompetent,  or  improvident  unemployed. 

Not  a  single  argument  for  further  restriction  of  immigration  have  I  yet 
seen  which  does  not  violate  the  plainest  principles  of  sound  American  industrial 
development,  and  also  propose  to  abandon  or  maim  the  noble  policy  of  the 
United  States,  which  has  made  this  country  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed,  the 
hope  of  the  multitudes  who  cannot  yet  find  freedom  and  comfort  in  their 
native  lands,  and  the  best  school  in  the  world  for  the  safe  development  of  free 
institutions.  Is  this  generation  of  Americans  to  be  frightened  out  of  this  noble 
policy  by  any  industrial,  racial,  political  or  religious  bogies?  Has  this  genera- 
tion forgotten  or  never  heard  Lowell's  description  of  "Oh,  Beautiful!  My 
Country !  Ours  once  more"  in  his  "Commemoration  Ode,"  written  at  the 
close  of  the  civil  war? 

She  that  lifts  up  the  manhood  of  the  poor, 

She  of  the  open  soul  and  open  door, 

With  room  about  her  hearth  for  all  mankind! 

Very  truly  yours, 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 

MEYER  BLOOMFIELD,  The  Vocation  Bureau,  Boston,  Massachus- 
etts: There  are  two  matters  which,  it  is  my  impression,  have  not 
been  considered  thus  far  in  the  conference,  or,  if  they  have,  they  de- 
serve perhaps  a  few  words  more.  One  is  the  nation-wide  effort  which 
England  is  making  to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  the  future  under- 


General  Discussion  351 

employed,  misemployed,  and  particularly  the  unemployable,  by  its 
vast  network  of  juvenile  labor  exchanges.  The  other  matter  deals 
with  the  aggravation  of  the  unemployment  situation  by  our  present 
methods  of  hiring  and  discharging  workers  in  the  average 
establishment. 

Before  I  take  these  topics  up  briefly,  I  wish  to  say  a  word  in 
support  of  the  caution  sounded  with  regard  to  the  qualifications  of 
those  who  are  placed  in  charge  of  public  employment  offices.  I 
found  that  the  character  of  the  service  rendered  by  the  English 
labor  exchanges  varied  as  the  fitness  of  the  officials  in  charge 
varied.  If  New  York  city  purposes  to  open  a  labor  bureau,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  best  qualified  man  in  the  country  will  be  se- 
cured for  its  management.  If  the  usual  type  of  office-holder  is 
put  in  charge,  then  it  is  better  not  to  open  such  a  bureau.  New 
York  is  fortunate  in  the  character  of  the  men  and  women  now  in 
charge  of  its  city  affairs ;  they  could  earn  their  salt  in  private  em- 
ployment, and  in  this  regard  they  differ  from  the  average  politician : 
a  politician  is  one  who  is  unfit  for  employment  by  any  one  except 
the  public. 

As  part  of  the  labor  exchange  scheme  which  was  started  in  the 
United  Kingdom  four  years  ago  there  is  an  extensive  scheme  of 
labor  bureaus  for  boys  and  girls  who  seek  work,  and  in  connection 
with  these  juvenile  exchanges  there  is  always  an  advisory  com- 
mittee of  social  workers,  educators,  employers  and  employees. 
These  committees  are  watching  over  that  perilous  transition  stage 
between  school  and  work  when  youth,  at  a  time  of  life  when  most 
of  our  social  safeguards  are  so  shaky,  finds  itself  in  a  job-jungle. 
A  vast  machinery  of  protection  and  service  to  those  wandering 
children  is  being  organized  with  a  view  to  ending  the  wholesale 
manufacture  of  the  future  "unemployable".  This  work  is  helping 
toward  a  classification  of  the  vague  unemployment  problem,  which 
is  a  composite  of  problems  inherent  in  our  present  industrial  or- 
ganization and  of  problems  which  are  remediable  and  preventable 
through  more  thoroughgoing  social  supervision  of  the  young  work 
beginners. 

Mr.  Andrews  points  out  in  his  report  that  in  one  establishment 
three  employees  are  taken  on  to  every  one  retained.  The  annual 
turn  over  of  the  working  force  in  the  average  large  establishment, 
the  constant  leakage  out  of  the  jobs,  is  not  only  costly  to  every 


352  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

employer  and  employee,  and  a  complication  of  the  unemployment 
problem,  but  is  a  sign  of  deep-rooted  inefficiency  in  the  present 
scheme  of  hiring.  As  far  as  I  know,  just  one  organization  in  this 
country,  the  Employment  Managers'  Association  of  Boston,  made 
up  of  those  who  engage  help  in  about  fifty  of  the  largest  plants 
in  greater  Boston,  is  looking  into  this  matter.  It  seems  to  me  that 
some  day  social  scrutiny  will  be  directed  toward  this  source  of 
human  waste,  this  managerial  inefficiency.  Without  the  active  and 
regulated  cooperation  of  every  one  who  employs  others,  the  attack 
on  the  unemployment  situation  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
as  they  are,  be  more  or  less  ineffective. 


t 

RESOLUTIONS 

Professor  Charles  R.  Henderson,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  presented  resolutions  to  the  meeting,  which  after 
discussion  and  amendment  were  adopted  as  follows: 

WHEREAS  the  reports  presented  to  this  national  conference,  by 
delegates  representing  25  states  and  59  cities,  show  a  complete  lack 
in  most  sections  of  the  country  of  accurate  statistical  information  in 
reference  to  the  extent  and  nature  of  unemployment;  and 

WHEREAS  notwithstanding  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  unemployment  this  winter  has  been  more  widespread  than 
usual  in  all  sections,  there  is  general  agreement  that  there  is  a  large 
amount  of  unemployment  and  that  this  and  irregularity  of  em- 
ployment at  all  times  are  among  the  most  serious  problems  of 
modern  industry;  and 

WHEREAS  there  is  also  general  agreement  that  the  first  step 
toward  a  solution  of  the  problem  is  the  organization  of  a  connected 
network  of  free  public  employment  exchanges  and  that  other  steps 
should  be  taken  as  soon  as  agreement  can  be  reached  as  to  what 
they  should  be;  therefore  be  it 

1.  Resolved,  That  this  conference  urge  the  establishment  in  the 
federal  Department  of  Labor  of  a  Bureau  of  Distribution,  with 
power  to  establish  employment  exchanges  throughout  the  country 
to  supplement  the  work  of  state  and  municipal  bureaus,  to  act  as  a 
clearing  house  of  information  and  promote  the  distribution  of  labor 
throughout  the  country,  provided  that  such  distribution  shall  not 
cause  the  deterioration  of  the  present  standards  of  wages,  condi- 
tions and  hours  of  employment  of  American  workers,  or  impair 
their  efforts  to  improve  them. 

2.  That  we  also  urge  upon  the  legislatures  of  the  various  states 
the  establishment  or  reconstruction  of  free  state  employment  agen- 
cies conforming  to  the  following  essential  principles: 

First:  That  appointments  and  tenure  of  office  be  governed  by 
the  merit  system  and  be  placed  beyond  control  of  political  parties ; 

Second:  That  appropriations  should  be  sufficient  to  make  the 
agencies  effective  in  the  highest  possible  degree; 

Third :  That  the  agencies  constitute  a  network  of  central  bureaus 
and  branch  offices  under  central  control  and  direction; 


354  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Fourth:  That  these  agencies  be  so  administered  as  to  cooperate 
with  municipal  and  federal  bureaus  so  as  to  constitute  a  truly 
national  system; 

Fifth :  That  every  bureau  or  office  be  required  to  register  every 
application  as  well  as  every  position  secured; 

Sixth:  That  frequent  reports,  publications  and  other  notices 
give  prompt  information  as  to  those  seeking  employment; 

Seventh :  That  these  agencies  may  be  held  true  to  their  character 
as  belonging  to  the  public  and  remain  neutral  in  all  trade  disputes. 

3.  We  recommend  that  municipalities  direct  their  attention  to  the 
local  problem  of  unemployment,  closely  defining  its  relief  and  in- 
dustrial phases  with  a  view  to  dealing  with  the  latter  in  a  business- 
like, efficient  way  through  a  central  labor  bureau  which  shall  dis- 
tribute employees  to  its  various  departments. 

4.  We  recommend  that  private  employment  agencies  >for  profit 
be  brought  under  the  inspection  and  control  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, where  they  send  labor  from  state  to  state  or  to  persons  or 
corporations  engaged  in  interstate  commerce  in  case  of  interstate 
business,  and  of  the  state  authority  where  they  are  engaged  in 
distributing  labor  within  a  state. 

5.  We   recommend   that   the   American   Association   for   Labor 
Legislation,  in  affiliation  with  the  American  Section  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  on  Unemployment,  prosecute  a  thorough  in- 
vestigation of  the  following  aspects  of  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment, and  at  the  same  time  initiate  and  promote  public  action: 

First :  The  labor  market,  exchanges,  statistics,  facilities  for 
special  classes,  advertising,  emergency  measures,  relief  agencies; 

Second:  Regularization  of  industry — seasonal  industries,  dove- 
tailing of  industries,  adjustment  of  large  contracts  to  run  longer 
periods,  casual  labor,  civil  service  methods; 

Third:    Vocational  guidance; 

Fourth:  Legislation — employment  agencies,  unemployment 
insurance. 


ir  ftabor 


ECONOMY— RELIABILITY— EFFICIENCY 


I.  Some  agency  for  the  distribution  of  information  as  to  oppor- 

tunities for  employment  is  indispensable. 

"It  is  impossible  for  wage-earners  themselves  to  discover  the 
opportunities  for  employment  for  which  they  are  best  fitted. 
They  cannot  call  at  every  factory  in  a  large  city,  and  they  can- 
not know  what  distant  farmer  or  construction  company  needs 
their  services,  or  where  railroads  and  lumber  companies  are 
maintaining  camps.  Some  agent  must  make  a  specialty  of 
gathering  information  about  opportunities  for  employment  and 
rounding  up  the  available  supply  of  labor." — WM.  M.  LEISERSON. 

II.  The  private  employment  agency  duplicates  work,  is  marked 

by  serious  abuses,  and  requires  expensive  regulation. 

"Private  employment  agencies,  which  charge  a  fee  for  their 
services,  are  found  in  every  city  of  any  size  in  the  United  States. 
The  nature  of  their  business  is  such  as  to  make  possible  most 
iniquitous  practices.  Their  patrons  are  frequently  men  and 
women  with  only  a  dollar  or  two,  which  they  are  eager  to  give 
up  for  the  opportunity  of  earning  more.  Stories  of  how  these 
agencies  have  swindled  and  defrauded  those  who  sought  em- 
ployment through  them  are  universal." — U.  S.  BUREAU  OF  LABOR, 
Bulletin  109. 

III.  The  public  employment  exchange,  with  state  and  interstate 

connections,  presents  the  most  efficient,  economical  and 
expeditious  method  of  bringing  workers  and  work  together. 

Great  Britain  started  in  1910  with  82  public  exchanges,  which 
by  July,  1913,  had  grown  to  430.  In  1912,  2,423,213  applications 
for  work  and  1,286,205  applications  for  help  were  received.  A 
total  of  1,051,861  positions  was  filled,  or  77  per  cent  of  all 
notified. 

Germany  has  323  public  exchanges,  267  of  which  in  1911 
filled  1,055,784  positions. 

France  has  162  public  exchanges,  most  of  which  were  estab- 
lished since  1900. 

The  point  for  comment  is  not  that  public  labor  exchanges 
should  be  advocated,  but  that  they  should  never  have  been 
systematically  organized  before.  In  every  other  branch  of  eco- 
nomic life  the  need  for  markets  and  the  wastefulness  of  not 
having  them  have  long  been  recognized. 


Chicago  (111.)  The  Public,  Jan. 
30,  1914. — Every  man  out  of  a  job 
is  an  interrogation  point,  pro- 
pounding to  society  this  question: 
"What  are  you  going  to  do  about 
me?" 

Washington  ( D.  C. )  Herald, 
Dec.  30,  1913. — It  is  well  for  us  to 
face  the  problem  squarely  before 
we  are  in  the  final  throes  of  it. 

New  York  (N.  Y.)  Sun,  Feb.  2, 
1914. — The  situation  has  never 
called  for  more  constructive  and 
intelligent  handling  than  at  pres- 
ent. 

Washington  (D.  C.)  Times,  Jan. 
23,  1914. — It  is  strange  that  the 
world  does  not  better  recognize 
the  great  waste  of  unemployment. 
To  organize  the  productive  means 
so  that  they  will  be  kept  at  work; 
to  provide  overhead  management; 
to  realize  just  what  all  this  would 


(£0mm?nt 

mean  in  alleviating  the  problem  of 
poverty  and  of  high  living  cost — 
this  is  the  greatest  problem  of  so- 
ciety today.  There  is  managerial 
capacity  enough  in  the  world  to 
solve  the  riddle,  if  only  it  were  set 
to  work.  A  broad  social  and  eco- 
nomic perception  of  the  problem 
is  the  first  requisite. 

Chicago  (111.)  Tribune,  Dec.  9, 
1913. — The  United  States  is  the 
only  intensely  industrial  country  in 
the  world  which  persists  in  taking 
anything  but  a  rational  view  of  un- 
employment. We  persist  in  look- 
ing upon  joblessness  as  a  reflection 
upon  the  individual  whereas  it 
really  is  a  reproach  to  the  nation. 

Boston  (Mass.)  Advertiser,  Jan. 
20,  1914. — There  is  a  veritable  army 
of  the  unemployed  in  New  Eng- 
land at  the  present  moment,  and 
signs  multiply  that  the  army  is  on 
the  increase. 


(ttommettte  from  prnmwettt 


Hon.  John  A.  Kingsbury,  New 
York  City  Commissioner  of  Chari- 
ties— The  handling  of  the  unem- 
ployed is  one  of  the  big  failures  of 
this  country. 

J.  G.  Hallimond,  Superintendent, 
The  Bowery  Mission,  New  York — 

Bread  lines  are  only  a  symptom. 
They  reveal  the  existence  of  a  ter- 
rible disease  in  the  body  politic. 
That  disease  is  unemployment. 

Professor  Henry  R.  Seager, 
President,  American  Association 
for  Labor  Legislation — More  good 
men  have  been  turned  into  embit- 
tered advocates  of  social  revolu- 
tion by  unemployment  than  by  any 
other  single  cause. 

Prof.  Charles  R.  Henderson, 
Secretary,  Chicago  Commission  on 
the  Unemployed — With  a  sort  of 
blind  optimism  and  smug  comfort 
which  is  not  justified  by  facts,  our 
legislators  fail  to  realize  the  suf- 
fering caused  by  unemployment  in 


our  own  cities.  The  anxiety  and 
terror  of  vast  numbers  of  fami- 
lies have  not  yet  touched  our  na- 
tion. To  bring  the  facts  home  to 
our  national  conscience  we  need 
adequate  statistics  and,  at  the  same 
time,  an  effort  to  extend  and  per- 
fect such  measures  as  are  even 
now  practicable. 

Frederick  L.  Smith,  General 
Manager,  Olds  Motor  Works— 

From  your  own  knowledge  you 
must  have  dozens  of  instances 
where  unemployed  labor  is  within 
a  few  hundred  miles  of  unemployed 
capital  seeking  to  get  names  on 
its  payroll  and  offering  solid  in- 
ducements to  solid  men  who  are  in 
ignorance  of  the  fact. 

T.  W.  Meachem,  President  New 
Process  Gear  Corporation,  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y. — The  question  of  un- 
employment is  perhaps  the  most 
important  as  well  as  the  hardest 
that  civilization  requires  shall  be 
solved. 


VI 

PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


OPERATION  OF  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES  1 


Provision  for  public  employment  exchanges  has  already  been 
made  in  the  United  States  by  nineteen  states  and  by  fifteen  munici- 
palities (see  map  facing  Introductory  Note). 

The  nineteen  states  which  have  made  such  provision,  with  the 
year  of  the  law  and  the  number  and  location  of  the  offices,  are : 

Colorado,    1907,    four    offices — Colorado    Springs,    Denver    (two 

offices),  Pueblo. 
Connecticut,  1905,  five  offices — Bridgeport,  Hartford,  New  Haven, 

Norwich,  Waterbury. 
Illinois,    1899,    eignt    offices — Chicago    (three    offices),    Rockford, 

Rock  Island,  Springfield,  East  St.  Louis,  Peoria. 
Indiana,  1909,  five  offices — Evansville,  Fort  Wayne,  Indianapolis, 

South  Bend,  Terre  Haute. 
Kansas,  1901,  one  office — Topeka. 
Kentucky,  1906,  one  office — Louisville. 
Maryland,  1902,  one  office — Baltimore. 
Massachusetts,  1906,  four  offices — Boston,  Fall  River,  Springfield, 

Worcester. 
Michigan,  1905,  five  offices — Detroit,  Grand  Rapids,  Jackson,  Kala- 

mazoo,  Saginaw. 

Minnesota,  1905,  three  offices — Duluth,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul. 
Missouri,  1899,  three  offices — Kansas  City,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Louis. 
Nebraska,  1897,  one  office — Lincoln. 
New  York,  1914 — (Not  yet  in  operation). 
Ohio,  1890,  five  offices — Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Columbus,  Dayton, 

Toledo. 

Oklahoma,  1908,  three  offices — Enid,  Muskogee,  Oklahoma  City. 
Rhode  Island,  1908,  one  office — Providence. 
South  Dakota,  1913,  one  office — Pierre. 
West  Virginia,  1901,  one  office — Wheeling. 
Wisconsin,    1901,   four   offices — La   Crosse,   Milwaukee,   Oshkosh, 

Superior. 

During  the  last  two  years  Colorado  has  increased  from  three 
offices  to  four,  Illinois  from  six  offices  to  eight,  Indiana  from  one 
office  to  five,  and  Massachusetts  from  three  offices  to  four. 

*  Prepared  by  Solon  De  Leon. 


36°  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

The  employment  exchanges  maintained  by  municipalities  are 
located  in  Phoenix  (Arizona),  Los  Angeles  and  Sacramento  (Cali- 
fornia), Kansas  City  (Missouri),  Butte,  Great  Falls,  and  Missoula 
(Montana),  Newark  (New  Jersey),  New  York  (New  York), 
Cleveland  (Ohio),  Portland  (Oregon),  and  Everett,  Seattle,  Spo- 
kane and  Tacoma  (Washington). 

The  information  contained  in  the  following  table  on  the  opera- 
tion of  these  exchanges  has  been  collected  by  correspondence  with 
the  various  state  and  city  officials  concerned  in  this  work,  sup- 
plemented by  the  published  reports  of  the  exchanges. 

The  descriptive  data  in  columns  VII  to  XIV,  inclusive,  of  the 
table  afford  a  valuable  insight  into  the  differences  between  the 
several  exchanges  in  matters  of  policy  and  in  methods  of  opera- 
tion. These  data  are  comparable  throughout.  The  statistical  data 
in  columns  II,  III,  IV  and  VI,  on  the  other  hand,  are  given  because 
they  indicate,  in  a  very  general  way,  the  activity  of  the  respective 
bureaus,  and  because  they  form  a  basis  upon  which  to  start  work 
for  the  uniform  terminology,  the  uniform  interpretation  of  termin- 
ology, and  the  uniform  method  of  keeping  records  and  accounts 
which  are  essential  to  harmonious  and  coordinated  work.  In  the 
absence  up  to  the  present  time,  however,  of  any  such  uniform 
agreement,  it  cannot  be  too  emphatically  stated  that  the  figures 
presented  are  not  strictly  comparable.  In  dealing  with  them  it  is 
necessary  to  observe  the  following  cautions  in  order  to  guard 
against  drawing  erroneous  conclusions : 

(1)  The  term  "Applications  for  work"  (Column  II)  is  in  some 
offices  interpreted  literally,  regardless  of  the  number  of  persons 
by  whom  the  applications  are  made,  while  in  others  it  is  interpreted 
to  mean  the  number  of  applicants,  regardless  of  how  often  each  one 
of  them  has  applied.    In  one  state  no  record  is  kept  of  the  number  of 
applicants,  but  only  of  those  who  are  registered  as  applying  for 
positions  which  have  been  offered  by  employers.     It  would  there- 
fore be  highly  misleading  to  use  figures  under  this  head  as  a  basis 
for  comparison  between  offices. 

(2)  The  same  warning  holds  with  regard  to  "Applications  for 
help"    (Column   III).     While  this   term   is   usually   employed   as 
synonymous  with  the  British  term  "Vacancies  notified",  there  is 
danger  that  in  some  cases  it  may  be  taken  to  mean  the  bare  number 
of  times  applications  have  been  received  from  employers,  regard- 
less of  how  many  workmen  were  each  time  applied  for.     More- 


Operation  of  Public  Employment  Exchanges  361 

over,  even  where  the  more  explicit  term  "Persons  applied  for  by 
employers"  is  used  by  an  office,  the  best  efforts  have  not  entirely 
prevented  employers  from  asking  for  more  workmen  than  they 
wished,  so  as  to  have  a  choice.  Hence  the  figures  will  not  bear 
interpretation  as  indicating  how  many  chances  to  work  were  really 
available  through  the  exchanges. 

(3)  A  still  more  serious  laxity  affects  the  figures  under  "Posi- 
tions filled"  (Column  IV).     In  some  exchanges  every  position  is 
recorded  as  filled  to  which  an  applicant  has  been  sent,  without 
effort  being  made  to  learn  whether  or  not  the  applicant  was  accepted 
by  the  employer.     Generally,  however,  employers  are  required  or 
requested  to  notify  the  office  of  the  acceptance  of  applicants.    This 
system  works  with  varying  degrees  of  completeness,  its  best  develop- 
ment being  seen  in  one  state  which  presents  in  its  reports  data 
for  persons  "Referred  to  positions"  as  well  as  for  "Positions  se- 
cured".   Unless  these  differences  are  borne  in  mind  grave  injustice 
will  be  done  to  those  offices  which  have  kept  the  most  careful 
records. 

(4)  The   figures   under   "Per  capita   cost   of   filling  positions" 
(Column  VI)  are  in  all  cases  as  given  by  the  offices  or  as  mathe- 
matically deduced  from  their  reports,  but  must  be  accepted  with 
many  allowances.    The  methods  of  computing  expenses  vary  widely. 
In  at  least  one  state  all  expenses  connected  with  the  running  of  the 
labor  exchanges,   including   rent  and   publication  of   reports,   are 
included  in  this  cost.    In  many  if  not  most  of  the  remaining  states, 
the  cost  of  printing  reports  is  defrayed  by  a  separate  departmental 

<or  special  appropriation,  while  a  number  of  differing  local  condi- 
tions and  arrangements  combine  to  complicate  the  question  of  rent. 
A  high  per  capita  cost  in  the  table,  therefore,  does  not  necessarily 
imply  poor  management  of  the  office,  nor  is  a  low  per  capita  cost 
certain  proof  of  either  economy  or  efficiency. 

(5)  Due  to  the  varying  periods  for  which  state  labor  depart- 
ments issue  their  reports,  it  has  not  been  possible  in  each  case  to 
secure  data  for  1913.     All  figures  for  other  years  or  portions  of 
years  have  been  indicated  by  footnotes. 

Perhaps  the  main  importance  of  the  data  in  columns  II,  III,  IV, 
and  VI  is,  therefore,  that  they  demonstrate  the  necessity  for  the 
adoption  of  a  uniform  terminology  and  system  of  book-keeping  by 
the  employment  exchanges  of  the  country  if  these  exchanges  are 
to  fulfil  their  function  as  reliable  sources  of  information  on  the 
state  of  employment. 


362  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

Within  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  shortcomings  of  the  data, 
however,  a  number  of  interesting  comparisons  may  be  drawn. 

Of  the  nineteen  states  which  have  legislative  provisions  for  state 
public  employment  exchanges,  only  sixteen  seem  to  have  ex- 
changes actually  in  operation.  Municipal  exchanges,  as  far  as  can 
be  learned,  are  actually  in  operation  in  twelve  of  the  fifteen  cities 
which  now  authorize  them.  The  greatest  number  of  state  ex- 
changes in  any  one  state  is  in  Illinois,  where  there  are  eight,  while 
four  states  have  but  one  state  exchange  each.  The  greatest  number 
of  municipal  exchanges  in  any  one  state  is  in  Washington  where 
there  are  four. 

The  figures  as  to  number  of  applicants  for  work,  applications  for 
help,  and  positions  secured  will  not,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  serve 
for  valid  comparisons.  In  the  matter  of  appropriations,  however, 
Illinois  stands  at  the  head  of  the  list,  apportioning  $50,735  to  the 
work  of  its  eight  exchanges  in  1913.  The  smallest  state  appropria- 
tion is  $1,200,  for  one  office,  in  West  Virginia. 

While  the  figures  as  to  per  capita  cost  of  filling  positions  must, 
as  previously  stated,  be  accepted  with  caution,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  cost  as  given  by  the  exchanges  themselves  varies 
from  $1.67  in  Rhode  Island  to  $.08  in  Seattle.  The  lowness  of  the 
Seattle  figure  is  partly  attributed  to  the  shipment  from  that  office 
of  large  groups  of  unskilled  workers  to  hop  fields  and  lumber 
camps,  but  knowledge  of  what  other  factors  entered  into  the  matter 
would  no  doubt  prove  valuable. 

In  only  five  states  and  one  municipality  do  the  exchanges  fail 
to  maintain  separate  departments  for  different  classes  of  appli- 
cants. In  all  the  other  offices  men  and  women  applicants  are 
divided.  Massachusetts  makes  a  further  division  of  handicapped 
persons  and  of  boys,  and  the  state  office  in  Milwaukee  and  the 
Butte  municipal  office  have  separate  departments  for  the  skilled 
and  the  unskilled. 

The  most  common  basis  of  selecting  applicants  for  positions  is 
their  fitness  for  the  work.  In  some  cases  other  considerations  are 
added  to  this,  such  as  need  of  employment,  number  of  dependents, 
•priority  of  application,  or  residence  in  the  state.  In  one  state  ex- 
change and  one  municipal  exchange,  priority  of  application  is  the 
only  point  considered,  while  one  municipal  bureau  places  first  the 
residents  with  families,  and  takes  care  of  other  applicants  in 
alphabetical  succession,  returning  to  the  A's  when  the  Z's  have  been 
exhausted. 


Operation  of  Public  Employment  Exchanges  363 

Vocational  guidance  by  the  exchanges  is  still  hardly  known.  The 
overwhelming  majority  of  exchanges  make  no  attempt  at  it.  Massa- 
chusetts reports  making  consistent  efforts  in  this  direction,  and  in 
three  other  states  occasional  advice  is  given  by  the  managers  of  the 
exchanges.  This  failure  to  respond  to  the  opportunity  to  do  con- 
structive work  is  in  painful  contrast  to  the  English  system  of  close 
cooperation  between  labor  exchange  and  school.1 

"Industrial  removal",  or  inducing  people  from  centers  of  con- 
gestion to  seek  opportunities  in  smaller  towns  or  in  the  country 
districts,  is  another  field  of  activity  which  is  almost  entirely 
ignored  by  American  labor  exchanges.  In  a  few  cases  an  inter- 
change of  communication  with  country  banks  or  with  county  clerks 
is  kept  up  with  a  view  to  securing  information  of  opportunities,  but 
as  a  rule  there  is  no  systematic  effort  in  this  direction. 

Two  state  exchanges  report  that  they  make  a  practice  of  advan- 
cing, from  office  funds,  transportation  to  needy  applicants,  and  two 
city  exchanges  report  doing  so  in  rare  cases.  All  the  remaining 
offices  do  not  advance  transportation,  although  many  of  them  act  as 
intermediaries  in  turning  over,  under  some  system  of  control,  the 
transportation  advanced  to  applicants  by  prospective  employers. 

Applications  from  outside  the  state  are  accepted  in  all  exchanges 
with  the  exception  of  three  maintained  by  municipalities. 

Great  diversity  exists  in  the  period  for  which  applications  re- 
main valid.  One  municipal  office  sets  a  limit  of  one  week  for  all 
applicants,  and  another  establishes  a  similar  limit  for  laborers. 
Other  definite  periods  are  ten  days,  two  weeks,  three  months  and 
six  months.  Three  state  exchanges  keep  all  applications  on  file 
indefinitely,  one  does  so  as  long  as  there  are  prospects  of  employ- 
ment, and  three  municipal  offices  report  that  they  do  so  until  a 
position  has  been  secured. 

The  controversial  question  of  what  policy  to  pursue  in  time  of 
labor  disputes  has  been  settled  by  the  offices  in  two  ways.  The 
more  common  policy  is  to  inform  the  would-be  employee  of  the 
existence  of  the  dispute  when  informing  him  of  the  position,  leaving 
it  to  him  to  decide  whether  or  not  to  take  the  work.  Under  this 
system,  it  is  said,  very  few  applicants  take  such  jobs.  Seven  state 
exchanges,  however,  refuse  absolutely  to  send  strike  breakers. 

In  all  cases  the  services  of  the  exchanges  are  free,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  inactive  municipal  exchange  at  Great  Falls, 
Montana,  where  a  fee  of  fifty  cents  is  charged. 

1  The  New  York  law  of  1914,  providing  for  a  bureau  of  employment  within 
the  department  of  labor,  makes  careful  provision  for  such  cooperation. 


Operation  of  Public  Employment 


A 


I 

State  and 
No.  of 
Exchanges 

II                        III                        IV 
Operations    for    1913 

V 

Appropriation, 
Current 
Fiscal  Year 

VI 

Per   Capita 
Cost  of 
Filling 
Positions 

VII 

Separate 
Departments 
Maintained 
for 

Applications 
for   Work 

Applications 
for    Help 

Positions 
Filled 

Colorado 

(4«) 

25,465b 

18,280b 

15,392" 

$10,050 

$     .652 

Men 
Women 

Connecticut 

(5) 

14,615 

11,122 

8,725 

$9,000 

$  1.00 

None 

Illinois 

(8) 

73,356C 

81,371C 

69,883C 

$50,735 

$     .61' 

Men 
Women 

Indiana 

(5) 

18,723h 

20,916h 

14,434h 

$9,000h 

$  .30' 

Men 
Boys 
Women   and 
girls 

Kansas 

(1) 

2,321d 

914d 

833d 

$2,000 

No       informa- 
tion 

None 

Kentucky 

(1) 

2,193e 

No       informa- 
mation 

l,120e 

$1,800 

$1.63 

Men 
Women 

Maryland 

(1;    inactive) 

Massachusetts 

(4) 

28,951 
("Registra- 
tions") 

39,230 
("Persons    ap- 
plied   for    by 
employers") 

29,117 
("Positions  re- 
ported 
filled") 

$29,800 

$  .96 

Men 
Women 
Boys 
Handicapped 

Michigan 

(5) 

48,974 

45,829 

42,423 

Included        in 
labor    depart- 
ment     appro- 
priation;    ac- 
tual expenses, 
$7,960 

$  .1873 

Men 
Women 

sExchanges  in  the  United  States 

STATE 


VIII 
Basis  of 
Selection 
in  Sending 
Applicants 
to  Positions 

IX                        X 

Is   Effort   Directed   toward 

XI 

Is  Transporta- 
tion Advanced 
by  Offices? 

XII 

Are  Applica- 
tions from 
Outside  the 
State 
Accepted  ?     t 
i 

XIII 

Period  for 
which     Appli- 
cations are 
Valid 

XIV 

Policy 
During 
Labor 
Disputes 

Vocational 
Guidance  ? 

Industrial 
Removal  ? 

Fitness 

No 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Common  labor 
30       days  ; 
skilled     labor 
indefinitely 

No     strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

Fitness,    refer- 
ences 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

As      long      as 
there           are 
prospects 

No     strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

i 

Fitness.        pri- 
ority    of    ap- 
plication 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

No       informa- 
tion 

No     strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

No       informa< 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa' 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

Priority  of  ap- 
plication 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

10  days 

"Practical  neu- 
trality" 

Fitness 

No 

Cooperation 
with    country 
banks 

No 

Yes 

60-90  days 

"Neutral" 

- 

Fitness,      resi 
dence  in  state 

Yes 

No 

No 

Yes 

Certain  special 
classes      kept 
indefinitely; 
others    elimi- 
nated periodi- 
cally 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Fitness 

No 

Cooperation 
with      county 
clerks 

No 

Yes 

30    days    ordi- 
narily 

No     strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


I 

State  and 
No.  of 
Exchanges 

II                      III                      IV 

Operations   for    1913 

V 

Appropriation, 
Current 
Fiscal  Year 

VI 

Per  Capita 
Cost  of 
Filling 
Positions 

VII 

Separate 
Departments 
Maintained 
for 

Applications 
for  Work 

Applications 
for    Help 

Positions 
Filled 

Minnesota 

(3) 

53,438' 

55,371' 

63,339 

Included  in  la- 
bor      depart- 
ment     appro- 
priation; $10,- 
000  estimated 

$  .1577 

Men 
Women 

Missouri 

(3) 

16,063 

19,437 

14,439 

Included  in  la- 
bor      depart- 
ment     appro- 
priation; 
$9,000       esti- 
mated 

$  .62 
(Estimated) 

None 

Nebraska 

(1) 

977' 

1,276' 

No        informa- 
tion 

No        informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

New  York 

(Not  yet  in 
operation) 

Men 
Women 
Farm  labor, 
etc. 
(Permissive) 

Ohio 

(5) 

114,603 

69,385 

67,425 

Included  in  la- 
bor      depart- 
ment    appror 
priation; 
$13,500     esti- 
mated 

$  .20 
(Estimated) 

Men 
Women 
(In    some    bu- 
reaus) 

Oklahoma 

(3) 

23,159* 

18,346* 

13,294* 

$4,100 

$  .37 

None 

Rhode  Island 

(1) 

3,029 

2,187 

2,386 

$4,000 

$1.67 

Men 
Women 

South  Dakota 

(1;  inactive) 

None 

West  Virginia 

(1) 

2,2058 

2,539* 

1,936* 

$1,200 

$  .619 

None 

Wisconsin 

(4) 

50,548 

50,994 

26,837 

$11,786.75 

$  .44 

Men 
Women 
(In  Milwaukee 
office  also 
skilled 
and  un- 
skilled) 

•Fourth  office  opened  in  1913.  "Average  of  two  years,  1911-1912.  c  Figures  for  1912. 

d  Figures  do  not  include  harvest  hands,  of  whom  the  bureau  reports  that  it  "placed  directly 
and  indirectly  more  than  16,000." 

e  Eleven  months,  November   1,   1912-September  30,   1913. 

'Eleven  months,  August  1,  1911-July  30,  1912.  (Figure  in  "Positions  Filled"  column  is, 
however,  for  1913.) 


E  XCHANGES— STATE 


VIII 
Basis  of 
Selection 
in  Sending 
Applicants 
to  Positions 

IX                        X 

Is   Effort   Directed   toward 

XI 

Is  Transporta- 
tion Advanced 
by  Offices? 

XII 

Are  Applica- 
tions from 
Outside  the 
State 
Accepted  ? 

XIII 

Period  for 
which    Appli- 
cations are 
Valid 

XIV 

Policy 
During 
Labor 
Disputes 

Vocational 
Guidance  ? 

Industrial 
Removal  ? 

Fitness 

Occasional    ad- 
vice by  super- 
intendents 

Information  to 
applicants 

No 

Yes 

30  days,  unless 
renewed 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Need     of    em- 
ployment,  fit- 
ness 

No 

Information  to 
applicants 

No 

Yes 

30  days 

No    strike 
breakers  fur- 
nished 

No       informa- 
tion 

>Jo       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

Yes 

Applicants 
notified  of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Fitness 

No 

Some  effort  to 
get    men    on 
farms 

No 

Yes 

Indefinitely 

No  strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

Fitness 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

Most  cases  30 
days 

No  strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

Fitness,     num- 
ber of  depen- 
dents 

Advice  by 
manager 

Information 
from    other 
offices 
utilized 

Yes 

Yes 

Indefinitely 
/ 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Fitness 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

Indefinitely 

"Neutral" 

Fitness;    if. 
equally  fit, 
residents  and 
married   men 
given    pref- 
erence 

Occasional  ad- 
vice    by     su- 
perintendents 

Applications 
exchanged 
between    of- 
fices 

No 

Yes 

1  month 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

*  Figures  for   1912. 

11  Twelve  months,  October  1,  1911-September  30,  1912. 

1  Figure  for  Indianapolis  office,  year   ending   September   30,    1912. 

J  Figures  for  two  yearo,   1909-1910. 

"Year  ending  June  30,   1913. 


B. 


I 

City 

II                       III                       IV 
Operations    for    1913 

V 

Appropriation, 
Current 
Fiscal  Year 

VI 

Per  Capita 
Cost  of 
Filling 
Positions 

VII 

Separate 
Departments 
Maintained 
for 

Applications 
for   Work 

Applications 
for    Help 

Positions 
Filled 

Phoenix 

(Ariz.) 

Los  Angeles 

(Calif.) 

No        informa 
tion 

No        informa 
tion 

9,704b 

$10,000 

$  .18 

Men 

Women 
Juveniles 

Sacramento 

(Calif.) 

3,488 

2,785 

2,785 

$1,800 

$  .646 
(Estimated) 

Men 

Women 

Kansas  City 

(Mo.) 

No       informa- 
tion 

No       informa- 
tion 

31,146 

Included    in 
Board    of 
Public    Wel- 
fare    budget; 
cost  last  year 
$5,226.68 

$  .17 

None 

Butte 

(Mont.) 

3,450 

3,659 

3,276 

$2,500 

$  .75 

Men, 
Women; 
Skilled 
Unskilled 

Great  Falls 

(Mont.) 

(Inactive) 

None 
\> 

Nissoula 

(Mont.) 

Newark 

(N.   J.) 

3,406C 

No       informa- 
tion 

1,174C 

Included  in 
general   ap- 
propriation 
for   city 
clerk's  office 

"Nothing" 

Men 
Women 

New  York 

(N.  Y.) 

(Not     yet     in 
operation) 

Cleveland 

(Ohio) 

(Not     yet     in 
operation) 

Portland 

(Ore.) 

No       informa- 
tion 

17,659 
(11  months) 

17,659 
(11  months) 

About 
$5,000 

$  .283 
(Estimated) 

tfen 
Women 

MUNICIPAL 


VIII 

Basis   of 
Selection 
in  Sending 
Applicants 
to  Positions 

IX                       X 

Is    Effort   Directed   toward 

XI 

Is  Transporta- 
tion Advanced 
by   Offices? 

XII 

Are  Applica- 
tions from 
Outside  the 
State 
Accepted? 

XIII 

Period  for 
which     Appli- 
cations are 
Valid 

XIV 

Policy 
During 
Labor 
Disputes 

Vocational 
Guidance? 

Industrial 
Removal  ? 

Fitness, 
residence 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

30  days 

"No   distinc- 
tinction 
whatever" 

Fitness 

No 

No 

No 

No 

Until    position 
is  secured 

No  special 
policy 

Residents 
with  families 
first;    others 
in   alphabe- 
tical rotation 

No 

No 

In   exceptional 
cases 

No 

2  weeks 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Fitness 

No 

Information 
from   other 
offices  utilized 

No 

Yes 

3  months 

No  strike 
breakers   fur- 
nished 

Priority  of  ap- 
plication 

No 

No 

No 

No 

Six  months 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

- 

Fitness 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

One  week 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


I 

City 

II                      III                      IV 

Operations    for    1913 

V 

Appropriation, 
Current 
Fiscal  Year 

VI 

Per  Capita 
Cost  of 
Filling 
Positions 

VII 

Separate 
Departments 
Maintained 
for 

Applications 
for  Work 

Applications 
for    Help 

Positions 
Filled 

Everett 

(Wash.) 

No       informa- 
tion 

No        informa- 
tion 

3,185 

$1,000 

$  .314 

None 

Seattle 

(Wash.) 

(2  offices) 

No       informa- 
tion 

33,342 

31,150 

$2,570 

$  .082 

Men 
Women 

Spokane 

(Wash.) 

4,889 

No       informa- 
tion 

5,212d 

$2,100 

$  .354 

Men 
Women 

T'ftTalh.) 

No       informa- 
tion 

19,152 

17,147 

$3,305 

$  .1369 

Men 
Women 

*  Information  of  existence  of  the  exchange  received  too  late  to  permit  of  securing  detailed  information. 
b  Four  months,  January   1-March  31,   1914. 


i  EXCHANGES— MUNICIPAL 


VIII 
Basis  of 
Selection 
in  Sending 
Applicants 
to  Positions 

IX                       X 

Is    Effort   Directed   toward 

XI 

Is  Transporta- 
tion Advanced 
by  Officer? 

XII 

Are  Applica- 
tions from 
Outside  the 
State 
Accepted? 

XIII 

Period  for 
which    Appli- 
cations are 
Valid 

XIV 

Policy 
During 
Labor 
Disputes 

Vocational 
Guidance  ? 

Industrial 
Removal  ? 

Residents 
with  families 
first;  others 
in  order  of 
application 

"Public 
schools  at- 
tend to  this 
matter" 

[nformation 
from  other 
offices  and 
from  trans- 
portation 
companies 
utilized 

No 

Yes 

Until  position 
is  secured 

"Absoutely 
non-partisan" 

Fitness 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

Men,  2  weeks; 
women,  up  to 
several 
montks,   de- 
pending on 
kind  of  work 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

Fitness 

No 

No 

Sometimes 

Yes 

Laborers, 
1  week; 
others,    1 
month 

Applicants    in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

For  laborers, 
married  men; 
for  mechnics, 
fitness 

No 

No 

No 

Yes 

Until  position 
is  secured  or 
applicant 
leaves  city 

Applicants  in- 
formed of  ex- 
istence of  dis- 
pute 

c  Figures  for   1910. 

d  Includes  a  number  of  cases  in  which  the  same  applicant  was  sent  to  several  short  jobs. 


VII 
PRESENT  STATUS   OF  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 


On  the  Basis  of  Official  Sources  and  of  Reports  Prepared  for  the 
General  Convention  at  Ghent  of  the  INTERNATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 
ON  UNEMPLOYMENT. 

Special  Supplement  to  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt,  No.  12,  December,  1913. 

Cf.  previous  memoir,  Die  bestehenden  Einrichtungen  zur  Versich- 
erung  gegen  die  Folgen  der  Arbeitslosigkeit  in  Deutschland  und  im 
Deutschen  Reich,  Berlin,  1906;  as  also,  in  connection  with  legislation 
discussed  below,  for  Denmark:  Dr.  Zacher,  Die  Arbeiterversicherung 
im  Ausland,  No.  la,  p.  30;  No.  Ib,  pp.  49,  47*.  69*  ff.;  Reichs- 
Arbeitsblatt,  1911,  p.  182;  1912,  p.  190  ff.;  1913,  p.  590.  For 
Norway,  cf.  Zacher,  ibid.,  No.  Illb,  pp.  43,  19*,  23*  ff.;  and  Reichs- 
Arbeitsblatt,  1911,  p.  276  ff.  For  Great  Britain,  cf.  Zacher,  ibid., 
No.  Va,  p.  51;  No.  Vb,  pp.  6,  84,  91  ff.,  and  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt, 
1909,  p.  830;  1910,  p.  357;  1911,  pp.  448,  560,  702,  860;  1912,  PP. 
55, 140, 160. 

Prepared  by  the 

GERMAN  IMPERIAL  STATISTICAL  BUREAU 
DIVISION  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS,  BERLIN 


Translated  by  the 

STATISTICAL  BUREAU 

METROPOLITAN  LIFE  INSURANCE  COMPANY 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

A  number  of  reports  of  progress  in  the  field  of  unemployment 
insurance  have  recently  been  published  in  the  German  Reichs- 
Arbeitsblatt.1  The  reports  prepared  for  the  General  Convention  at 
Ghent  of  the  International  Association  on  Unemployment,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1913,  furnish  a  new  stimulus  to  issue  a  statement  with 
regard  to  the  present  status  of  unemployment  insurance.  In  order 
to  facilitate  a  summary  view  of  the  situation,  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  arrange  the  most  important  information  in  the  comparative 
tables  which  follow,  on  the  basis  of  the  resumes  of  social  insurance 
in  Europe.2  Use  has  been  made  of  official  publications,  as  well  as 
of  the  reports  prepared  for  the  meeting  at  Ghent.8 

Attention  has  been  paid  solely  to  the  arrangements  made  by 
public  bodies  (states,  provinces,  communities),  leaving  out  of  con- 
sideration measures  for  self-help  on  the  part  of  workmen.  The 
latter  will  be  treated  in  detail  for  Germany,  and  briefly  for  other 
countries,  in  Special  No.  8  of  the  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt*  This  will 
appear  shortly,  and  will  be  devoted  to  the  status  of  unions  of  em- 
ployers, workmen,  and  other  employees  in  1912.  Moreover,  we 
have  left  out  of  consideration  the  philanthropic  work  of  employers, 
as  well  as  that  of  funds  and  societies. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  tables  Germany  has  been  placed  at 
the  end  of  the  series. 

Interpreting  the  term  "insurance"  in  its  broadest  sense,  the  sys- 
tems of  unemployment  insurance  which  have  thus  far  found  appli- 
cation are  three  in  number,  as  follows : 


*Cf.  Supplement  to  No.  4,  April,  1913  (Index  for  1903-1912),  p.  10. 

2  Supplement  to  No.  12,  December,  1912,  of  the  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt. 

3  For   Germany,   cf.   Der  gegenwdrtige  Stand   der  Arbeitslosenfiirsorge 
und  -Fersicherung  in  Deutschland,  Publications  of  the  German  Association 
on  Unemployment,  No.  2,  prepared  by  Dr.  E.  Bernhard.     The  reports  for 
other  countries  are  at  hand  in  the  form  of  publications  of  the  conference ; 
they  will  appear  in  the  Bulletin  Trimestriel  de  V Association  Internationale 
pour  la  Lutte  contre  le  Chomage. 

4  Cf .  Statistisches  Material  zur  Frage  der  Arbeitslosigkeit,  prepared  by  the 
Imperial  Ministry  of  the  Interior  (November,  1913),  p.  52  ff.    For  foreign 
countries,  cf.  Statistisches  Jahrbuch  fiir  das  Deutsche  Reich,  1913,  p.  16*  f. 


376  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

I.  The  system  of  subsidies  paid  by  public  bodies  to  the  unem- 
ployment insurance  funds  of  industrial  unions.  This  is  usually 
called  the  "Ghent  system,"  after  the  city  in  which  it  was  first  applied. 
It  has  been  introduced  more  generally  than  any  other.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  important  to  determine  whether  the  payment  of  sub- 
sidies is  left  entirely  to  the  communities  'or  other  public  bodies,  or 
whether  additional  sums  are  given  by  the  state,  and,  in  the  latter 
case,  whether  these  sums  are  dependent  upon  the  budget  or  are 
determined  by  law. 

The  system  of  subsidization  is  left  entirely  to  the  communities 
(or  provinces)  in  Germany,  in  Belgium  (where  its  development  is 
oldest  and  greatest),  in  Holland,  in  France  (where,  besides  a  num- 
ber of  communities  and  departments,  the  state  has  set  aside  the  sum 
of  100,000  francs  in  its  budget,  which  amount  has  never  been  fully 
utilized,  as  the  slight  importance  of  the  industrial  benefit  system  in 
that  country  does  not  seem  to  have  been  influenced  by  subsidiza- 
tion), in  Luxemburg,  and  in  a  number  of  cantons  of  Switzerland 
(in  the  form  of  cantonal  subsidies). 

Legal  regulation  for  the  whole  country  has  been  instituted  in 
Norway,  in  Denmark,  in  Great  Britain  (besides  the  compulsory 
insurance  which  has  been  introduced  into  some  industries),  and, 
if  we  take  the  Swiss  cantons  into  consideration,  in  Geneva  and  in 
the  city  of  Basel  (besides  the  voluntary  unemployment  insurance 
fund).  It  is  noteworthy  that,  in  Norway,  Denmark,  and  Great 
Britain,  the  system  of  labor  exchanges  has  been  regulated  by  law, 
hand  in  hand  with  insurance.  (Cf.  the  Norwegian  law  of  June  12, 
1906,  the  English  law  of  September  20,  1909,  the  Danish  law  of 
April  29,  1913,  and  the  international  report  to  the  Ghent  confer- 
ence, September,  1913,  printed  in  the  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt,  1913, 
p.  761  ff.) 

The  results  of  the  Ghent  system  must  in  general  be  designated 
as  slight.  Its  purpose,  "training  in  self-help,"  has  been  fulfilled 
almost  nowhere,  either  in  the  sense  that  the  industrial  unions  have 
received  a  greater  influx  of  members  because  of  the  subsidies,  or  in 
the  sense  that  they  have  introduced  or  further  developed  unemploy- 
ment benefit.  Only  this  has  been  attained — the  benefits  given  by 
these  unions  have  been  increased.  However,  those  who  have  re- 
ceived them  constitute  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  the  total 
number  of  unemployed,  even  where,  as  in  Denmark,  the  organization 


Present  Status  of  Unemployment  Insurance  377 

of  workmen  was  far  advanced  before  the  introduction  of  the  sub- 
sidy system.  In  Belgium,  moreover — in  the  mother  country  of  the 
system — comparatively  few  workmen  reap  its  benefits.  It  is  true 
that  the  organization  movement  has  forged  ahead  in  Germany  much 
farther  than  in  Belgium  or  in  France,  and  that  unemployment  benefit 
has  attained  a  much  greater  development  there  than  in  other  coun- 
tries. (Cf.  Special  No.  8,  Reichs-Arbeitsblatt.)  Yet  it  has  thus 
far  been  impossible  to  determine  any  effect  upon  the  strength  of 
organization,  and  upon  the  development  of  unemployment  insur- 
ance, in  the  cities  which  have  introduced  the  Ghent  system.  Further- 
more, it  cannot  be  denied  that  conditions  are  less  favorable  to  success 
in  Germany  than  anywhere  else.  While  in  other  countries  industrial 
unions  are  preponderantly  organized  on  a  local  basis,  the  German 
bodies  are  invariably  strongly  centralized.  Moreover,  their  benefit 
system  is,  in  general,  unified  and  adapted  to  the  entire  empire. 

The  light  financial  burdens  which,  according  to  the  tables,  are 
necessitated  by  the  Ghent  system  (in  9  German  cities  for  which  we 
know  at  least  the  amount  of  the  annual  grants,  they  add  up  to  only 
a  little  more  than  40,000  marks)  have  aided  its  adoption  greatly,  but 
have  at  the  same  time  contributed  to  decreasing  its  efficiency  in  the 
campaign  against  the  consequences  of  unemployment.  Hence  its 
ardent  champions  have  become  convinced  that  at  least  a  partially 
compulsory  insurance  system  should  be  instituted. 

The  subsidization  of  industrial  unions  is  frequently,  as  in  Ghent, 
associated  with  the  subsidization  of  savings  societies  or  of  individual 
savers,  which,  however,  has  almost  universally  turned  out  to  be  a 
failure. 

We  have  still  to  consider  the  payment  of  subsidies  to  voluntary 
unemployment  funds. 

II.  The  system  of  state  or  communal  voluntary  unemploy- 
ment funds.  The  best-known  funds  of  this  class  are  those  of  the 
city  of  Berne,  of  the  canton  of  Basel,  and  of  the  city  of  Cologne 
(formerly  a  free  society  with  a  considerable  municipal  subsidy). 
Recently,  on  the  basis  of  the  modern  charters  worked  out  by  the 
Bavarian  government,  the  cities  of  Kaiserslautern,  Bavaria,  and 
Schwabisch  Gmiind,  Wurttemberg,  have  associated  with  the  sub- 
sidy system  the  institution  of  voluntary  unemployment  insurance 
funds.  However,  we  have  no  reports  as  yet  concerning  their 
experience. 


378  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

In  general,  the  voluntary  unemployment  funds  are  hampered 
by  the  fact  that  only  a  comparatively  small  number  of  workingmen 
join  them.  In  the  case  of  almost  all  of  these  the  danger  of  unem- 
ployment is  especially  great,  or  lack  of  work  is  a  regularly  recurring 
phenomenon.  The  greatest  number  of  voluntary  insured  belonged 
to  the  Cologne  fund  in  its  earlier  form.  Since  its  modern  recon- 
struction, with  increased  dues,  it  has  been  able  to  obtain  but  few 
members. 

Greater  success  has  been  experienced  by  the  Cologne  fund  in 
its  new  activity,  the  reinsurance  of  industrial  unions.  This  is  akin 
to  the  Ghent  system,  but  is  distinguished  from  it  by  requiring  pay- 
ment from  the  unions  in  return  for  subsidization.  Furthermore, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  advancing  self-help,  Cologne  has  obtained 
better  results  than  other  cities  by  means  of  the  Ghent  system.  It 
has  been  able  to  win  over  four  industrial  unions  to  the  introduction 
of  unemployment  benefit  on  the  basis  of  reinsurance.  It  is  true 
that  the  unions  in  the  building  trades,  upon  whom  the  greatest 
reliance  had  been  placed,  have  thus  far  declined  to  participate — 
the  free  industrial  unions  for  the  reason  that  they  are  organizations 
for  combat  and  not  for  unemployment  benefit,  and  the  Christian 
unions  because  they  feel  no  need. 

III.  The  system  of  compulsory  insurance.  Aside  from  the 
unfortunate  and  rapidly  abandoned  experiment  of  1894,  in  the  city 
of  St.  Gall,  there  has  never,  as  yet,  been  a  system  of  compulsory 
insurance  for  all  workmen,  nor  was  there  such  an  institution  for 
particular  industries  until  the  enactment  of  the  English  national 
insurance  act  of  1911.  So  short  a  time  has  elapsed  since  the  enact- 
ment of  this  law,  which  extends  compulsory  insurance  to  about 
2,500,000  workmen,  and  its  enforcement  was  begun  in  a  period  so 
favorable  from  a  commercial  point  of  view,  that  no  final  judgment 
can  be  given.  This  fact  has  been  recognized  by  the  Convention  at 
Ghent  of  the  International  Association  on  Unemployment,  in  agree- 
ment with  the  report  of  the  English  Section. 

The  plan  for  compulsory  insurance  of  workers  in  the  watch 
and  clock  industry  in  the  Swiss  canton  of  Neuenburg  is  still  in 
the  preparatory  phase. 

*  *  * 

Tables  I,  II,  and  III  refer  to  arrangements  outside  the  German 
Empire.  The  first  treats  of  the  three  countries  which  have  legal 


Present  Status  of  Unemployment  Insurance  379 

regulation.  The  second  table  contains  the  data  for  those  countries 
in  which  state  subsidies  are  provided  for  in  the  budget,  and  for  those 
in  which  there  is  no  state  subsidy  (or,  in  Switzerland,  no  federal 
subsidy).  The  third  is  devoted  to  the  two  voluntary  unemploy- 
ment insurance  funds  of  Switzerland. 

The  tables  for  Germany  are  so  arranged  that  Table  IV  con- 
cerns subsidies  to  industrial  unions;  Table  V,  subsidies  to  savers 
and  to  savings  societies ;  and  Table  VI,  public  voluntary  unemploy- 
ment insurance  funds.  Thus  some  cities  occur  in  two  tables;  they 
are  those  which  associate  subsidies  to  industrial  unions  with  similar 
payments  to  individual  savers  or  to  voluntary  unemployment  funds 
(Berlin-Schoneberg,  Stuttgart,  Feuerbach,  Freiburg  i.  B.,  Kaisers- 
lautern,  Schwabisch  Gmund).  Those  cities  are  not  included  which 
give  free  unemployment  benefit,  which  differs  from  poor  relief  only 
in  the  fact  that  it  is  governed  by  special  legislation,  and  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  local  statutes,  it  is  not  to  be  considered  as  such  relief. 
Where  benefits  are  paid  to  those  who  are  not  included  in  the  subsidy 
system  (particularly  the  unorganized),  this  has  been  especially 
indicated  (Berlin-Schoneberg  [food  stamps],  Erlangen,  Mannheim). 


A.     UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 

I.    COUNTRIES  WITE 


Nature 


jScope 


Form 


(b)    Voluntary    insur- 
ance for 

(Article  106) 


Statistics  of  compulsory 
insurance1: 
(July  12,  1913) 


(a)  Compulsory  insur- 
ance for 

(Law  of  Dec.  16, 
1911,  in  force  be- 
ginning July  15, 
1912) 


All  wage  workers  (above 
age  16)  in: 

Building  trades, 
Machine  manufac- 
turing, 

Ship  building  and 
wagon  building, 
Iron  moulding. 
Saw-mill  industry. 


All  industrial  societies  the 
statutes  of  which  call 
for  unemployment  ben- 
efit. 


45,200,000    inhabitants; 
14,000,000  wagework- 


National  unemployment  fund,  with  national  system  of  laboi 
exchanges  (Law  of  Oct.  20,  1909): 
1,066  agents, 

430  local  labor  bureaus  (2,500  officials), 
8  district  bureaus  (749  officials), 
1  central  bureau  (287  officials). 


July  12,  1913:    275  societies  with  1,100,000  members  (in 
eluding  500,000  subject  to  compulsory  insurance). 


2,500,000  compulsorily  insured  (63  per  cent,  skilled  la 
borers),  as  opposed  to  about  500,000  formerly  voluntaril; 
insured. 

Unemployment  fund:  £1,600,000 


Voluntary  insurance  for 
(Laws  of  June   12, 
1906-Dec.  31,  1911, 
and  Aug.  15,  1911- 
Dec.  31,  1914) 


All  industrial  societies  the 
statutes  of  which  call 
for  unemployment  ben- 
efit. 


Statistics  (1912) 


2,400,000  inhabitants; 
400,000  wageworkers. 


"Recognized    unemployment    funds"    in    connection    wit! 

public  labor  exchanges  (Law  of  June  12,  1906). 
Requirements  for  state  recognition: 

1.  Administration  of  fund  independently  of  occupations 
society. 

2.  At  least  half  of  income  of  fund  must  consist  of  members 

dues. 

3.  Benefits  must  be  so  regulated  by  statute  that: 

(a)  No  benefit  is  paid  in  case  of  unemployment  whe: 
there  is  information  of  suitable  work  or  throug: 
the  fault  of  the  insured  (including  strikes  and  lock 
outs);    no   double  insurance  or  insurance  for  th 
first  three  days  of  unemployment  is  permitted; 

(b)  benefit  is  not  paid  until  the  insured  has  been  ; 
contributing  member  for  6  months,  the  maximur 
being  half  of  the  normal  daily  wage  in  his  occupa 
tion,  and  the  maximum  period  being  90  days  pe 
annum;  and 

(c)  there  will  be  a  special  assessment,  or  reduction  i: 
the  rates  of  benefit,  in  case  of  insufficient  resources 

19  funds  (17  workmen's  funds,  2  employers'  funds),  wit 
27,000  members  (about  50%  of  the  organized  workmen; 


Voluntary  insurance  fo 
(Law  of  April  9,  1907,  ii 
:orce  beginning  August 
1,  1907) 


Workmen's  industrial  so- 
cieties the  statutes  of 
which  call  for  unem- 
ployment benefit. 


Statistics  (1912), 


2,800,000  inhabitants; 
500,000  wageworkers. 


"Recognized   unemployment   funds,"    in   connection   wit 

public  labor  exchanges  (Law  of  April  29,  1913). 
Requirements  for  state  recognition: 

1.  Administration  of  fund   independently  of  industry 
society; 

2.  Occupational  or  local  limitation  of  fund; 

3.  At  least  50  members;    none  below  age  18  or  abov 
age  60. 

4.  Benefits  must  be  regulated  by  statute  so  that: 

(a)  No  benefit  is  paid  in  case  of  unemployment  whe 
there  is  information  of  suitable  work,  or  throug 
the  fault  of  the  insured  (including  strikes  and  lock 
outs);    no  double  insurance  or  insurance  for  th 
first  three  days  of  unemployment  is  permitted; 

(b)  benefit  is  not  paid  until  the  insured  has  been 
contributing  member  for  one  year,  the  maximur 
being  two-thirds  of  the  normal  daily  wage  in  th 
occupation  or  locality.     However,  this  must  no 
be  less  than  K  kroner  or  more  than  2  kroners,  an 
must  not  be  paid  for  more  than  70  days  in  th 
year;  and 

(c)  there  must  be  extra  dues  in  case  of  insufficien 
funds. 

53  funds,  with  111,187  members  (60%  of  those  capable  c 
being  insured). 


OUTSIDE  OF  GERMANY 

LEGAL  REGULATION 


Dues 


Benefits 


Appeal 


Regular  weekly  dues,  5  pence  (2}4  pence  paid 
by  employer,  2K  pence  by  employee).  Fur- 
thermore, there  is  a  state  subsidy  amount- 
ing to  one-third  of  the  annual  receipts  from 
dues. 


State  subsidy  by  repayment  to  the  society 
of  a  maximum  of  one-sixth  of  the  annual 
expenditure  for  weekly  benefit,  not  in  ex- 
cess of  12  shillings.  (The  budget  of  1913- 
1914  provides  for  an  expenditure  of 

Annual' dues,  £1,700,000. 
State  subsidy,  £600,000. 
Total  income,  £2,300,000. 


7  shillings  per  week  (through  the  labor  bu- 
reau1), from  the  second  to  the  fifteenth 
week  of  unemployment  in  each  year,  pro- 
vided that 

(a)  the  insured  has  worked  at  least  26 
weeks  in  the  year,  for  the  last  3 
years,  in  an  occupation  subject  to 
compulsory  insurance; 

(b)  he    has    not    become    unemployed 
through  strike  or  through  his  own 
fault;  and 

(c)  he  does  not  receive  from  the  labor 
bureau  information  of  work  of  equal 
value.    (Persons  aged  17-18  receive 
half  benefit;   persons  below  age  17 
receive  none.) 


Expenditures:  236,458  pounds  for  about 
400,000  cases  (an  average  per  case  of  about 
10  shillings  for  10  days,  with  16  days  of 
unemployment,  as  almost  one-third  of  the 
cases  were  disposed  of  during  the  waiting 
period  of  one  week). 

Average  rate  of  unemployment:  3.5  per  cent, 
(building  trades,  5.0  per  cent.;  shipbuild- 
ing,  3.1  per  cent.) 


Appeal   may   be 
made,  without 
expense,  to 
(a) insurance 
official; 

(b)  court  of  ar- 
bitration; 
and 

(c)  non-parti- 
san arbi- 
trator. 


Of  420,802  appli- 
cations, 37,424 
(8.9%)  were  re- 
ferred to  (a). 
2,907  (8.0%  of 
the  previous 
number)  to  (b) 
and  49  cases  to 
(c). 


Dues  vary  according  to  the  statutes  of  the 
fund. 

According  to  Section  6  of  the  law,  the  unem- 
ployment fund  must  admit  unorganized 
members  of  the  occupation  (without  the  ne- 
cessity of  giving  them  the  right  to  vote); 
however,  their  dues  may  be  increased  by 
10%-15%  in  consideration  of  the  admin- 
istrative expenses  borne  by  the  occupational 
society. 

State  subsidy  amounting,  under  the  Amend- 
ment of  July  25,  1908,  to  one-third  (pre- 
viously one-fourth)  of  the  annual  expendi- 
tures for  benefit,  with  an  assessment  of  two- 
thirds  of  this  subsidy  paid  by  the  commu- 
nity in  which  the  insured  resides. 

No  dues  are  paid  by  employers,  as  they  are 
called  upon  to  aid  in  the  support  of  accident 
and  sickness  insurance. 

Members'  dues,  kroners 186,252 

Subsidy    from    state     and  commun- 
ities, kroners 36,309 


Benefit  varies  according  to  the  statutes  of  the 
fund.  However,  it  is  legally  limited  to  Nor- 
wegian citizens  and  to  persons  who  have 
been  resident  in  Norway  for  5  years  (Cf. 
Column  3). 


Appeal  may  be 
made,  without 
expense  to: 

(a)  executive 
of  fund; 
and 

(b)  ministry. 


Expenditures : 
ployed. 


144,781    kroners    to    unem- 


i  Total  income,  kroners 222,561 

Total  capital,  kroners '. .  .  387,545 


Dues  vary  according  to  the  statutes  of  the 
fund.  (In  1912  they  varied  between  4.80 
and  26  kroners,  the  average  being  12  kron- 
ers). 

State  subsidy  (compulsory) :  one-third  of  dues. 

Community  subsidy  (voluntary):  up  to  a 
maximum  of  one-sixth  of  dues. 


Benefits  vary  according  to  the  statutes  of  the 
fund.  (Daily  benefit  of  K  kr.-2  kr.  for  70- 
.  160  days,  according  to  length  of  member- 
ship). 


Dues,  kroners 1,300,000 

State  subsidy,  kroners 800,000 

Community  subsidy,  kroners 400,000 

Total  income,  kroners 2,500,000 

Reserve  fund,  kroners 2,400,000 

Total  income,  1907-1912:    9,600,000  kroners 
(54%  dues,  32%  state  subsidy,  and  14% 


Compensation:  1,700,000  kroners.  (Average 
unemployment,  26  days,  for  about  half  of 
which  compensation  was  paid.) 

Total  compensation,  6,500,000  kroners. 


Appeal  may  be 
made,  without 
expense,  to: 

(a)  executive 
of  fund; 

(b)  committee; 
and 

(c)  minister. 


II.     VOLUNTARY  UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE  BY  WORKMEN'S 


Scope 

Societies 

Membership 

Dues 

Benefits 

Persons 
Unemployed 

260,000  inhabitants; 
55,000  workmen  (1909) 

8 

800 

2400  fr. 

1800  fr. 



40,000,000  inhabitants; 
10,000,000  workmen, 
(a)  State  (1912).  .  . 

114 

1141, 
•  •  •  J  209 

49,595 
148,089 

209,564  fr. 
(193,578  fr.)» 
224,159  fr. 
(206,747  fr.)* 

8,429 
8,609 

(b)  State  (1911)  

(c)  12  departments  (1911). 
(d)  51  cities'  (1911)..  . 

'•:•'•:•'•• 

Total,  (b)—  (d)  

5,900,000  inhabitants; 
1,500,000  workmen  (1912) 

281 

29,313 

.... 

50,191  florins    ; 
(92,261  florins, 
including  subsidy) 

7,400,000  inhabitants; 
2,100,000  workmen 
(1,000,000  industrial  work- 
ers) (1912)  

[Societies      sup 
communities, 
.organizations. 

4011 
3D 

See  footnote* 
7  savings  socie- 
ties 

439 

ported     by] 
and    other  > 

103,  537  in  370  [ 
societies  ren-j 
dering  report.  I 

(a)  State.  .  .    . 

(b)  5  Provinces  

(c)  61  communities 

290,187  fr. 
20,394  fr. 

481  fr. 
775  fr. 

29,203 

(27,081)* 
1,569 
(1,569)6 
22 
40 

(d)  31  communities 

(e)  Communities  (9)  

(f  j  Communities   . 

Total  (a)-(f) 

3,800,000  inhabitants;  800,- 
000  workmen: 
Canton  of  St.  Gall  (Law  of 
May  19,  1894): 
(1913)  

8 
4 

12 
10 

5 
3 
3 

(1911) 

Canton  of  Geneva  (Law  of 
Nov.  6,  1909): 
(1911) 

(1910)  

Canton  of  Basel  City  (Law 
of  Dec.  16,  1909): 
(1912)  

Canton  of  Appenzell 

Canton  of  Appenzell  (1912) 

34,700,000  inhabitants;  10,- 
500,000  workmen: 
(a)  2  cities  

(b)   1  city  (1910)        ...    . 

Savings  fund 

795  savers 

About  12,000 
liras 

542 

III.    PUBLIC  VOLUNTAB 


Scope 

Societies 

Membership 

Dues 

Benefits 

No.  of 

Unemployet 

Canton  of  Basel  City  (Law 
of  Dec.  16,  1909)  (1912). 

City  of  Berne  (1912) 

Unemploy- 
ment fund 
Unemploy- 
ment fund 
Unemploymen 
industry  in 
has  not  yet 

1,214 
636 

;  fund  for  the  w 
Berne    Jura  (fou 
jegun  activity). 

9,434  fr. 
8,773  fr. 

atch  and  clock 
ndation  which 

34,512  frJ 
19,130fr. 

605 
(563)8 
321 

1  Not  including  cantonal  legislation. 

8  Benefits  toward  which  subsidy  was  paid. 

8  Including  21  cities  which  have  passed  general  legislation  with  regard 

«  Bill  of  August  9,  1907.  with  regard  to  state  subsidy,  not  disposed  of. 


to  subsidies. 


OCIETIES  WITH  PUBLIC  SUBSIDY  BUT  WITHOUT  LEGAL  REGULATION* 


Subsidies 

Days  of 
Unemployment 
(with 
Compensation) 

Expenses  of 
Administra- 
tion 

Remarks 

Community 

State 

Credit  of  1500  fr.  each 

Division  into  thirds  according  to  member- 
ship, dues,  and  benefits. 

112,423 

47,542  fr. 
50,726  fr. 
18,550  fr. 

102,795 
116,373 

.... 

Since  the  enactment  of  the  Finance  Law  of 
April  22,  1905,  the  state  has  granted  an 
annual  credit  of   100,000  fr.     Maximum 
state  subsidy  (for  benefit  up  to  2  fr.  and  60 
days),  20  per  cent,  of  benefit  for  local  funds 
and  30  per  cent,  for  occupational  funds. 

Total,  181,699 

42,070  fl. 

See  foot- 
note 4 

.... 

Subsidy  of  50-60  cents  toward  benefitfor50  to 
60  days.   Also  voluntary  fund  in  Dordrecht, 
as  yet  without  members,  not  mentioned 
in  Table  III,  below. 

:  134,157  fr. 
|  12,546  fr. 
289  fr. 

393  fr. 
147,385  fr. 

24.911  fr. 
49,830  fr. 

74,741  fr. 

229,089 
(208,890)    * 
11,797 
(9,145)   8 
481 

522 

19,448  fr. 

State  and  provinces  partially  support  com- 
munal unemployment  funds.    Besides  the 
five  provinces  under  b,  another  province 
voted  a  credit  of  2,500  francs,  but  did  not 
pay  it. 

Under  (c)  subsidies  are  paid  to  those  receiv- 
ing aid  from  industrial  unions. 
Under  (d)  subsidies  are  paid  directly  to  the 
industrial  unions. 
Headings  (e)  and   (f)  do  not  include  com- 
munities   giving    subsidies    to    individual 
savers  and  savings  organizations,   which 
come  under  (c)  and  (d). 
These    figures    account    for   about    252,000 
workmen  organized  in  industrial  unions. 

Total  222,126  fr. 

'.'.'.'. 

2,669  fr. 
475  fr. 

1,953  fr. 
2,343  fr. 

3,412  fr. 
Credit:  2,000fr. 
1,601  fr. 

(for  2,584  days 
of  unemploy- 
ment) 

.... 

Besides  the  cantons   specified   hi   the   first 
column,  Zurich  and  Thurgau  granted  small 
subsidies  to  an  industrial  union  fund  in 
1911. 
Subsidy  of  50  per  cent,  of  benefit. 

Subsidy  of  60  per  cent,  of  benefit. 

Subsidy  of  40  to  50  per  cent,  of  benefit. 
Subsidy  of  50  per  cent,  of  benefit. 

Interest  on 
300,000  liras 

'.'.'.'. 

5,977 
(1909) 

.... 

Subsidies   are   also   paid   under  the   Ghent 
system  by  a  private  foundation  in  Milan 
(Societa  Umanitaria). 

NEMPLOYMENT  FUNDS 


Subsidies 

Days  of 
Unemployment 
(Compensated) 

Expenses  of 
Administration 

Remarks 

Community 

State 

27.000  fr. 

12,000  fr. 

.... 

Lottery  granted; 
subsidy  of  5,000 
fr.    under   con- 
sideration. 

*  Number  of  unemployed,  and  number  of  days  of  unemployment,  for  which  communal  subsidy  was  paid. 
'  Individual  savers. 

1  Also  subsidies  from  voluntary  aid  fund:   420  fr. 

•  Benefit  obtained  for  15,407.5  days. 


B.     COMMUNAL  UNEMPLOYMEN1 

IV.    SUBSIDIES  T( 


"3" 
«H 

0U 

City  and  Year  of 
Installation  of 
System 

Requirements  for  Payment  of 
Subsidy 

Amount  and  Duration  of 
Subsidy 

Year  of 
Report 

Classes  of    I 
Workingmen 
Excluded 

Period  of 
Residence 
Required 

Waiting 
Period 

In  Proportion 
to  Society 
Benefit 

Maximum 
per  Day 

Maximum 
per  Year 

Berlin-Schoneberg, 
1910. 

1912 

1  year 

Maximum 
7  days. 

50% 

1  mark 

60  days 

Bavaria 

Erlangen,  1909.  .  . 

Kaiserslautern, 
1913. 

1912 

Unskilled 

3  years 

7  days 

50% 

To  be  deter- 
mined 
monthly 

0.60  m. 
0.60  m. 

6  weeks 

•M 

•f. 

Stuttgart,  1912.  .  . 

Feuerbach,  1913.. 

SchwabischGmttnd 
1911   (Entered 
into  force  Mar. 
1,  1913) 

Esslingen,     1913 
(Entered    into 
force  Oct.   15, 
1913) 

6  months, 
Oct.  1, 
1912,  to 
Mar.  31, 
1913 

Occupationally 
and  physically 
suited  for  pub- 
lic relief  work 

1  year 

1  year 
2  years 

1  year 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

50%;  with 
children, 
5%-25% 
more 

As  in  Stuttgart 

Unmarried  : 
0.40  m. 
Married: 
0.50-0.60  m. 

50% 

1  m.; 

with  chil- 
dren, 
1.50  m. 

As  in 
Stuttgart 

1m. 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

6  weeks 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

Baden 

Freiburg  i.B.,1910 

Mannheim,  1913 
(Entered    into 
force    July    1, 
1913) 

1912 

Occupationally 
and  physically 
suited  for  pub- 
lic relief  work 

1  year 
1  year 

5  days 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

50% 

0.70m.; 
for  each  child, 
0.10  m. 
more 

1m. 
1  m. 

40  days 
60  days 

d 

Offenbach  a.  M., 
1913 

.... 

1  year 

5  days 

Unmarried  : 
0.50  m. 
Married  : 
0.70  m. 
For  each  child, 
0.15  m.  more 

1.30  m. 

78  days 

Alsace-Lorraine 

Strassburg,  1907.. 

Illkirch-Grafen- 
staden,  1910 

Schiltigheim  
Bischheim  

1911-1912 
1912 

1  year 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

50% 

1  m. 

As  in  in 
dustria! 
society 

As  in  Strassburg 

Mtilhausen,  1909 

Amendments, 
1913 

1911 

.... 

1  year 
1  year 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

As  in  in- 
dustrial 
society 

70%; 
families, 
80% 

0.80  m.; 
families, 
1m. 

1  m. 
1m. 

As  in  in 
dustria 
society 

As  in  in 
dustria 
society 

i  Number  of  cases.     The  number  ot  individuals  rece 
*  Only  days  for  which  communal  subsidy  was  paid. 
» 93  of  this  number  received  aid  from  the  city, 
i  Only  days  for  which  communal  benefit  was  paid. 


>JSURANCE  IN  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE 

JDUSTRIAL  SOCIETIES 


Industrial  So- 

1 

cieties  Affected 

Benefits  Paid 

dumber  of 

umber  of 

Mem- 

dumber of 

Days  for 

Amount  of 

Community 

Remarks 

Societies 
x>cal  Ad- 

ainistra- 
tions) 

ber- 
ship 

Unem- 
ployed 
Receiving 
Benefit 

which 
Compen- 
sation 
was  Paid 

Benefit, 
in  Marks 

Subsidy, 
in  Marks 

59 

620 

15,770 

12,631 

Subsidies  are  also  paid  to  individual 
savers;  cf.  V.    There  is  also  non- 

3 

contributory  benefit  to   the  un- 

V* 

employed  through  food  stamps. 

18 

73 

1  797 

1,033 

ffl 

P 

5,000; 

also  subsidy  for 
insurance  fund 

As    regards    Kaiserslautern    insur- 
ance fund,  cf.  VI. 

P" 

44 



776 

36,568 
(incl. 

66,022 
(incl. 

Annual  grant, 
10,000;  9,746 

Stuttgart  and  Feuerbach:    Mutual 
agreement.    For  subsidies  to  sav- 

savers) 

withdraw- 
als by 
savers) 

paid  out  (incl. 
payments  to 
savers) 

ers,  cf.  V. 
Schwabisch  Gmtind:  As  regards  in- 
surance fund,  cf.  VI. 

Annual  grant, 

1,000  (incl.  sub- 

n 

sidy  to.savers) 

rt- 

Annual  grant, 

EJ 

1,000  (incl. 

rr 

insurance 
fund) 

8 

oo. 

10 

1,892 

518 

7,227 

10,291 

1,861 

Freiburg:    For  subsidies  to  savers, 

(9  so- 

cf. V. 

cieties) 

W 

Mannheim:  Non-contributory  bene- 

a 

fit  to  unemployed  not  members 

J3 

of  societies. 

.... 

.... 

.... 

For  subsidies  to  savers,  cf.  V. 

ffl 

§ 

36 

7,444 

6271 

7,499» 

19,951 

6,086 

Mutual  agreement  between  Strass- 
burg,  Illkirch-Grafenstaden,  Schil- 

tigheim  and  Bischheim. 

.... 

1 

36 

7.50 

IT 

1 

i 







r 

3 

20 

.... 

194» 

2,460< 

.... 

2,316 

65 

.... 

.... 

.... 

<D 

V.    SUBSIDIES  TO;SAVIN 


City  and  Year 
of  Installation  of 
System 

Year  of 
Report 

Requirements  for  Payment 
of  Subsidy 

Amount  and  Duration  of 

Subsidy 

Classes  of 
Workingmen 
Excluded 

Period  of 
Residence 
Required 

Waiting 
Period 

In  Propor- 
tion to  De- 
posit With- 
drawn 

Maximum 
per  Day 

Maxim 
per  Ye 

I' 

Berlin-Schoneberg, 
1910  

1912 

Females 

1  year 

Maximum, 
1  week 

50% 

1  m. 

60  da 

|  Wurttemberg 

Stuttgart,  1912  .  .  . 
Feuerbach,  1913..  . 

6  months, 
Oct.  1,  1912, 
to  Mar.  31, 
1913 

Irregular 
workers  and 
married  fe- 
male workers 

1  year 

Gdays 

50%;  with 
children,  5% 
to  25%  more 

1  m.;  with 
children,  1.50 
marks 

50  da 

As  in  Stuttgart 

i! 

Freiburg  i.  B.f  1910 

1912 

.... 

.... 

50% 

1  m. 

See 
Footnc 
2 

VI.    PUBLIC  VOLUNTA] 


Requirements  for  Payment  of  Su  bsldy 

Weekly  Dues,  in 
Pfennigs 

City  and  Year 
of  Installation  of 
System 

Year  of 
Report 

Classes  of 
Working- 
men  Ex- 
cluded 

Period  of 
Residence 
Required 

Waiting 
Period 
Before 
Right  to 
Obtain 
Benefit 

Waiting 
Period 
After 
Beginning 
of  Un- 
employ- 
ment 

Member- 
ship 
(Risk) 
Classes 

Insured 

Re- 

Insui 

Cologne,  1896, 

July  1. 

Workmen 

Insured, 

52 

6  days 

3 

Schedule 

entirely    trans- 
formed in  1911. 

1912,  to 
June  30, 

with  max- 
imum 

13  weeks; 
re-insured, 

weekly 
payments 

(I-IH) 

A  B 
I  15  20 

4 

1913 

average 

1  year 

II  20  30 

10 

rt 

daily  wage 

III  45  60 

30 

s 

of  2.50m.; 

Higher  rates 

home 

for  members 

workers 

above  age  60 

Savaria 

Kaiserslautern, 
1912   (Entered 
into  force  April, 
1   1913) 



Married 
females 



52  weekly 
pay- 
ments 

7  days 

(I-IV) 

Un-     Mar- 
married  ried 
I     20    30 
II     32     48 
III     48     72 
IV     60     90 

Initiation 

fee,  50  pf. 

JD 

SchwSbisch 
Gmiind,  1911 
(Entered  into 
force  April, 

.... 

Persons 
occupa- 
tionally 
and  phys- 

1  year 

52 
weekly 
pay- 
ments 

7  days 

2 
(I-ID 

Un-     Mar- 
married  ried 
I      20     30 
II      35     52 

S 

1   1912) 

suited  for 
public 

Initiation 
fee,  50  pf. 

IH 

relief 

9 

work; 

{^ 

married 

females 

1Maximum  deposit,  100  marks. 
»Maximum  deposit,    40  marks. 


OCIETIES  AND  INDIVIDUALS 


Recipients  of  Subsidy 

Deposits 

Withdrawals 

Number 
of  Days 
for  which 
Compen- 
sation was 
Paid 

Com- 
munity 
Subsidy 
in  Marks 

Remarks 

divid- 
ual 
avers 

Savings 
Soci- 
eties 

Member- 
ship 

Number 
of  De- 
positors 

Amount, 
in  Marks 

Number 
of  Payees 

Amount, 
in  Marks 

172 

.... 

.... 

172 

.... 

56 

.... 

987 

987 

Cf.  IV 

>J 

22 

2 

.... 

22 

S 

ee  Table  IV 

.... 

Cf.  IV 

Wurttemberg 

.... 

8 

133 

66.50 

1? 

^EMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE  FUNDS 


Amount  and 

Duration  of 

Number  of  Insured 

Dues  in  Marks 

Benefits  in  Marks 

Subsidy 

aount 
r  Day 
Marks 

Maxi- 
mum 
per  Year 
in  Marks 

Individ- 
ually 
Insured 

Re- 
insured 
Societies 

Mem- 
ber 
ship 

Individ- 
ually 
Insured 

Soci- 
eties 

Individ- 
ually 
Insured 

Soci- 
eties 

Com- 
munity 
Sub- 
sidy, 
in  Marks 

Remarks 

Insured  : 

Maximum, 

25 

11,105 

5,124 

19,170 

6,002 

23,798 

60,377 

Benefit  paid 

First   1  Next 

189;    38 

to  14  indiv- 

20 days|40  days 
V     1.50     0.75 

dropped 
because  of 

idually     in- 
sured, 2,121 

3     2.00     1.00 

non- 

re-insured. 

hfl 

^insured:  0.75 

payment; 

Compensa- 

J2 

1.50,  accord- 

remainder, 

tion      paid 

CD 

g   to   number 

151 

for  472  days 

weekly  pay- 

of   unem- 

3* 

»ntsmade;max- 

ployment  to 

ium,  60  times 

individually 

tese  rates 

insured;    for 

31,731    days 

to  re-insured 



Un- 

60  days 

See 

For  sub- 

arried, 
).80; 

Table 
IV 

sidies  to  in- 
dustrial 

! 

arried, 

societies, 

1.20 

Cf.  IV. 

1 

Un- 
arried, 
).50; 

6 
weeks 

See 
Table 
IV 

For  sub- 
sidies to  In- 
dustrial 

I 

rried, 

societies, 

«t 

0.75 

Cf.  IV. 

o 

1 

VIII 
NEW  LEGISLATION  ON  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES 


NEW  LEGISLATION  ON  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES 


Following  is  the  text  of  the  measures  referred  to  in  the  Introduc- 
tory Note  as  having  been  enacted  by  New  York  city  and  New  York 
state  and  introduced  in  Congress  subsequent  to  the  First  National 
Conference  on  Unemployment : 

ORDINANCE  ESTABLISHING  A  MUNICIPAL 
EMPLOYMENT   BUREAU 


Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  New  York  City,  April  28,  1914, 
and  Approved  by  the  Mayor  May  4,  1914. 


Be  ii  Ordained  by,  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  The  City  of  New 
York,  as  follows: 

Section  i.  There  shall  be  a  Public  Employment  Bureau  in  and 
for  The  City  of  New  York,  attached  to  the  Department  of  Licenses, 
with  the  principal  office  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan,  and  a  branch 
office  in  such  other  boroughs  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  and 
designated  by  the  Commissioner  of  Licenses  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  unemployed  persons  in  securing  employment  and  employers 
of  labor  in  securing  employees  but  no  fee  shall  be  charged  by  said 
Bureau,  or  any  officer  or  employee  thereof  for  such  purpose. 

Section  2.  The  employees  of  said  Public  Employment  Bureau 
shall  consist  of  such  Assistants  and  Clerks  as  may  be  found  neces- 
sary for  properly  carrying  on  the  work  of  said  Bureau,  and  they 
shall  be  appointed  and  removed  by  the  Commissioner  of  Licenses 
in  accordance  with  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Municipal  Civil 
Service  Commission,  and  shall  be  paid  such  compensation  as  shall 
be  fixed  and  established  pursuant  to  section  56  of  the  Greater  New 
York  Charter. 

Section  3.  There  shall  be  kept  in  the  principal  office  of  said 
Bureau  and  in  each  and  every  branch  office  thereof  such  systems  of 
records  as  may  be  necessary  properly  to  record  and  classify,  accord- 
ing to  trade  or  profession,  (i)  all  applicants  for  positions;  (2)  all 
positions  to  be  filled  as  reported  to  said  Bureau;  (3)  all  persons  sent 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

to  those  seeking  employees ;  (4)  all  such  persons  who  secure  employ- 
ment, and  (5)  such  other  records  as  the  Commissioner  of  Licenses 
deems  necessary.  A  report  of  the  transactions  of  each  branch  office 
shall  be  transmitted  each  day  to  the  principal  office  of  the  Public 
Employment  Bureau  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan. 

Section  4.  The  Public  Employment  Bureau  shall,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
feasible,  cooperate  with  such  employment  bureaus  or  intelligence 
offices  as  now  exist,  or  which  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  established 
and  conducted  by  the  United  States  or  the  State  of  New  York. 

Section  5.     This  ordinance  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


LAW  ESTABLISHING  A  STATE  BUREAU  OF 
EMPLOYMENT 


Passed  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  Approved 
by  the  Governor  April  7,  1914  (Chapter  181,  Laws  1914) 


The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and 
Assembly,  do  enact  as  follows: 

*  *  *  §  66.  Director.  The  bureau  of  employment  shall  be  under 
the  immediate  charge  of  a  director  who  shall  have  recognized  ex- 
ecutive and  managerial  ability,  technical  and  scientific  knowledge 
upon  the  subject  of  unemployment  and  administration  of  public 
employment  offices  and  recognized  capacity  to  direct  investigations 
of  unemployment  and  public  and  private  agencies  for  remedying  the 
same.  The  civil  service  examination  for  the  position  of  director 
shall  be  such  as  to  test  whether  candidates  have  the  above  qualifi- 
cations. As  a  part  of  such  examination  each  candidate  shall  be 
required  to  submit  a  detailed  plan  of  organization  and  administration 
of  employment  offices  such  as  are  contemplated  by  this  article. 

§  66-a.  Public  employment  offices.  The  commissioner  of  labor 
shall  establish  such  public  employment  offices,  and  such  branch 
offices,  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  this  article. 

§  66-b.  Purpose.  The  purpose  of  such  offices  shall  be  to  bring 
together  all  kinds  and  classes  of  workmen  in  search  of  employment 
and  employers  seeking  labor. 

§  66-c.  Officers.  Each  office  shall  be  in  charge  of  a  superintendent, 
who  shall  be  subject  to  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  director. 
Such  other  employees  shall  be  provided  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
proper  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  office. 

§  66-d.  Registration  of  applicants.  The  superintendent  of  every 
public  employment  office  shall  receive  applications  from  those  seek- 
ing employment  and  from  those  seeking  employees  and  shall  register 
every  applicant  on  properly  arranged  cards  or  forms  provided  by 
the  commissioner  of  labor. 

§  66-e.  Reports  of  superintendents.  Each  superintendent  shall 
make  to  the  director  such  periodic  reports  of  applications  for  labor 


394  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

or  employment  and  all  other  details  of  the  work  of  each  office,  and 
the  expenses  of  maintaining  the  same,  as  the  commissioner  of  labor 
may  require. 

§  66-f.  Advisory  committees.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall 
appoint  for  each  public  employment  office  an  advisory  committee, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  give  the  superintendent  advice  and  assist- 
ance in  connection  with  the  management  of  such  employment  office. 
The  superintendent  shall  consult  from  time  to  time  with  the  advisory 
committee  attached  to  his  office.  Such  advisory  committee  shall  be 
composed  of  representative  employers  and  employees  with  a  chair- 
man who  shall  be  agreed  upon  by  a  majority  of  such  employers  and 
of  such  employees.  Vacancies,  however  caused,  shall  be  filled  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  original  appointments.  The  advisory  commit- 
tees may  appoint  such  subcommittees  as  they  may  deem  advisable. 
At  the  request  of  a  majority  either  of  the  employers  or  of  the 
employees  on  advisory  committees,  the  voting  on  any  particular 
question  shall  be  so  conducted  that  there  shall  be  an  equality  of  vot- 
ing power  between  the  employers  and  the  employees,  notwithstanding 
the  absence  of  any  member.  Except  as  above  provided,  every 
question  shall  be  decided  by  a  majority  of  the  members  present  and 
voting  on  that  question.  The  chairman  shall  have  no  vote  on  any 
question  on  which  the  equality  of  voting  power  has  been  claimed. 

§  66-g.  Notice  of  strikes  or  lockouts.  An  employer,  or  a  repre- 
sentative of  employers  or  employees  may  file  at  a  public  employment 
office  a  signed  statement  with  regard  to  the  existence  of  a  strike  or 
lockout  affecting  their  trade.  Such  a  statement  shall  be  exhibited 
in  the  employment  office,  but  not  until  it  has  been  communicated  to 
the  employers  affected,  if  filed  by  employees,  or  to  the  employees 
affected,  if  filed  by  employers.  In  case  of  a  reply  being  received 
to  such  a  statement,  it  shall  also  be  exhibited  in  the  employment  office. 
If  any  employer  affected  by  a  statement  notifies  the  public  employ- 
ment office  of  a  vacancy  or  vacancies,  the  officer  in  charge  shall  advise 
any  applicant  for  such  vacancy  or  vacancies  of  the  statements  that 
have  been  made. 

§  66-h.  Applicants  not  to  be  disqualified.  No  person  shall  suffer 
any  disqualification  or  be  otherwise  prejudiced  on  account  of  refus- 
ing to  accept  employment  found  for  him  through  a  public  employ- 
ment office,  where  the  ground  of  refusal  is  that  a  strike  or  lockout 
exists  which  affects  the  work,  or  that  the  wages  are  lower  than  those 


New  Legislation  on  Employment  Exchanges  395 

current  in  the  trade  in  that  particular  district  or  section  where  the 
employment  is  offered. 

§  66-i.  Departments.  The  commissioner  of  labor  may  organize 
in  any  office  separate  departments  with  separate  entrances  for  men, 
women  and  juveniles;  these  departments  may  be  subdivided  into  a 
division  for  farm  labor  and  such  other  divisions  for  different 
classes  of  work  as  may  in  his  judgment  be  required. 

§  66-j.  Juveniles.  Applicants  for  employment  who  are  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen  years  shall  register  upon  special 
forms  provided  by  the  commissioner  of  labor.  Such  applicants  upon 
securing  their  employment  certificates  as  required  by  law,  may  be 
permitted  to  register  at  a  public  or  other  recognized  school  and  when 
forms  containing  such  applications  are  transmitted  to  a  public  em- 
ployment office  they  shall  be  treated  as  equivalent  to  personal  regis- 
tration. The  superintendent  of  each  public  employment  office  shall 
co-operate  with  the  school  principals  in  endeavoring  to  secure  suit- 
able positions  for  children  who  are  leaving  the  schools  to  begin  work. 
To  this  end  he  shall  transmit  to  the  school  principals  a  sufficient 
number  of  application  forms  to  enable  all  pupils  to  register  who  desire 
to  do  so;  and  such  principals  shall  acquaint  the  teachers  and  pupils 
with  the  purpose  of  the  public  employment  office  in  placing  juveniles. 
The  advisory  committees  shall  appoint  special  committees  on  juvenile 
employment  which  shall  include  employers,  workmen,  and  persons 
possessing  experience  or  knowledge  of  education,  or  of  other  condi- 
tions affecting  juveniles.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  these  special 
committees  to  give  advice  with  regard  to  the  management  of  the 
public  employment  offices  to  which  they  are  attached  in  regard  to 
juvenile  applicants  for  employment.  Such  committees  may  take 
steps  either  by  themselves  or  in  co-operation  with  other  bodies  or 
persons  to  give  information,  advice  and  assistance  to  boys  and  girls 
and  their  parents  with  respect  to  the  choice  of  employment  and  other 
matters  bearing  thereon. 

§  66-k.  Co-operation  of  public  employment  offices.  The  com- 
missioner of  labor  shall  arrange  for  the  co-operation  of  the  offices 
created  under  this  article  in  order  to  facilitate,  when  advisable,  the 
transfer  of  applicants  for  work  from  places  where  there  is  an 
oversupply  of  labor  to  places  where  there  is  a  demand.  To  this 
end  he  shall  cause  lists  of  vacancies  furnished  to  the  several  offices, 
as  herein  provided,  to  be  prepared  and  shall  supply  them  to  news- 


39^  American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

papers  and  other  agencies  for  disseminating  information,  in  his 
discretion,  and  to  the  superintendents  of  the  public  employment 
offices.  The  superintendent  shall  post  these  lists  in  conspicuous 
places,  so  that  they  may  be  open  to  public  inspection. 

§  66-1.  Advertising.  The  commissioner  of  labor  shall  have  power 
to  solicit  business  for  the  public  employment  offices  established 
under  this  article  by  advertising  in  newspapers  and  in  any  other  way 
that  he  may  deem  expedient,  and  to  take  any  other  steps  that  he  may 
deem  necessary  to  insure  the  success  and  efficiency  of  such  offices ; 
provided,  that  the  expenditure  under  this  section  for  advertising  shall 
not  exceed  five  per  centum  of  the  total  expenditure  for  the  purposes 
of  this  article. 

§  66-m.  Service  to  be  free.  No  fees  direct  or  indirect  shall  in  any 
case  be  charged  to  or  received  from  those  seeking  the  benefits  of  this 
article. 

§  66-n.  Penalties.  Any  superintendent  or  clerk,  subordinate  or 
appointee,  appointed  under  this  article,  who  shall  accept  directly  or 
indirectly  any  fee,  compensation  or  gratuity  from  any  one  seeking 
employment  or  labor  under  this  article,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misde- 
meanor and  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in  jail  for  a  term  not  exceeding 
six  months,  or  both,  and  shall  thereafter  be  disqualified  from  holding 
any  office  or  position  in  such  bureau. 

§  66-0.  Labor  market  bulletin.  The  bureau  of  statistics  and  in- 
formation of  the  department  of  labor  shall  publish  a  bulletin  in  which 
shall  be  made  public  all  possible  information  with  regard  to  the  state 
of  the  labor  market  including  reports  of  the  business  of  the  various 
public  employment  offices. 

§  66-p.  Information  from  employment  agencies.  For  the  pur- 
poses specified  in  the  foregoing  section  every  employment  office  or 
agency,  other  than  those  established  under  this  article,  shall  keep  a 
register  of  applicants  for  work  and  applicants  for  help  in  such 
form  as  may  be  required  by  the  commissioner  of  labor  in  order  to 
afford  the  same  information  as  that  supplied  by  state  offices.  Such 
register  shall  be  subject  to  inspection  by  the  commissioner  of  labor 
and  information  therefrom  shall  be  furnished  to  him  at  such  times 
and  in  such  form  as  he  may  require. 

§  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


BILL  TO  ESTABLISH  A  FEDERAL  BUREAU  OF 
EMPLOYMENT 


Introduced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  Murdock,  April 
29,  1914,  and  Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Labor 


Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  a  bureau  to  be  known  as  the  Bureau  of  Employment}  shall  be 
established  in  the  Department  of  Labor. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  Bureau  of  Employment  shall  be  under  the 
direction  of  a  commissioner  of  employment,  who  shall  be  appointed 
by  the  President  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate. 

SEC.  3.  That  the  purpose  of  this  bureau  shall  be  to  lessen  the 
amount  of  unemployment  in  the  United  States  by  studying  the 
causes  and  extent  of  unemployment,  by  regulating  the  interstate 
employment  business  of  private  employment  agencies,  and  by  bring- 
ing together  workmen  of  all  kinds  seeking  employment  and  employ- 
ers seeking  workmen. 

SEC.  4.  That  to  this  end  the  bureau  shall  establish,  in  connection 
with  its  central  office  at  Washington,  a  system  of  free  labor 
exchanges  at  such  important  industrial  and  commercial  centers  as 
may  seem  desirable  to  the  commissioner.  Each  exchange  shall  be 
in  charge  of  a  superintendent,  who  shall  be  subject  to  the  supervision 
and  direction  of  the  commissioner;  and  such  other  employees  shall 
be  provided  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  proper  administration  of 
the  work  of  the  office.  These  exchanges  shall  use  such  methods, 
keep  such  records,  and  make  such  reports  as  the  commissioner  may 
require.  They  shall  cooperate  with  each  other  by  exchanging 
reports  through  the  central  office  showing  the  fluctuations  in  the 
labor  market  in  their  respective  districts.  The  central  office  and 
the  branch  exchanges  shall  cooperate  as  fully  as  possible  with  State, 
municipal,  and  private  employment  agencies. 

SEC.  5.  That  the  bureau  shall  investigate  the  methods  and  work 
of  persons,  corporations,  and  associations  conducting  private  em- 
ployment agencies  which  do  an  interstate  employment  business. 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 

After  January  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  fifteen,  no  person,  cor- 
poration, or  association  shall  conduct  an  employment  agency  doing 
such  interstate  business  without  having  procured  a  license  from  the 
Commissioner  of  Employment.  Application  for  the  license  must  be 
made  upon  blanks  furnished  by  the  commissioner,  and  must  contain 
such  information  as  he  may  require.  Each  application  must  be 
verified  and  must  be  accompanied  by  affidavits  of  the  good  moral 
character  of  the  applicant,  or,  if  the  applicant  be  a  corporation,  of 
its  officers.  The  commissioner  shall  investigate  the  character  of  the 
applicant,  the  premises  to  be  used,  and  the  methods  of  the  agency. 
Such  license  shall  be  granted  upon  approval  of  the  application  and 
payment  to  the  commissioner  of  a  fee  of  $25.  The  license,  unless 
sooner  revoked  by  the  commissioner,  shall  run  until  the  first  day  of 
July  next  ensuing  the  date  thereof,  and  shall  be  renewable  annually 
on  payment  of  a  like  fee  and  on  compliance  with  any  rules  adopted 
by  the  commissioner.  Every  license  shall  contain  the  name  of  the 
licensee,  the  address  at  which  he  is  authorized  to  carry  on  business, 
the  number  and  date  of  such  license,  and  such  further  particulars 
as  the  commissioner  may  prescribe.  Such  license  shall  not  authorize 
the  licensee  or  his  agents  to  transact  business,  or  to  hold  himself 
or  themselves  out  as  authorized  to  transact  business,  at  any  place 
other  than  that  prescribed  in  the  license  without  the  written  consent 
of  the  commissioner,  nor  shall  the  license  be  transferred  or  assigned 
without  such  consent.  Such  licensee  shall  not  send  out  an  applicant 
for  any  employment  within  the  provisions  of  this  Act  without  having 
first  obtained  a  bona  fide  order  therefor  in  writing  stating  the  terms 
and  conditions  of  employment  and  whether  a  strike  of  the  employ- 
ees of  the  person  or  corporation  making  the  request  is  in  progress. 
Such  order  shall  be  kept  on  file  by  the  licensee  and  shall  at  all  times 
be  open  to  the  inspection  of  the  commissioner.  If  a  licensee  is 
guilty  of  fraud  or  misrepresentation,  or  violates  any  of  the  provisions 
of  this  Act  or  the  rules  adopted  thereunder,  the  commissioner  may 
revoke  the  license,  after  giving  such  notice  as  he  deems  sufficient  to 
the  licensee  and  an  opportunity  to  answer  the  charges.  Any  viola- 
tion of  the  provisions  of  this  Act  or  of  the  rules  thereunder  shall  be 
a  misdemeanor,  and  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  $500 
or  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year,  or  by  both 
such  fine  and  imprisonment.  The  Secretary  of  Labor,  on  the  recom- 


New  Legislation  on  Employment  Exchanges  399 

mendation  of  the  Commissioner  of  Employment,  shall  make  the 
necessary  rules  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  Act. 

SEC.  6.  That  the  bureau  shall  issue  bulletins  giving  the  informa- 
tion it  has  gathered  through  the  labor  exchanges  about  the  state 
of  the  labor  market  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  It  shall  also 
issue  from  time  to  time  whatever  recommendations  it  believes  to  be 
advisable  with  reference  to  changing  the  conditions  that  cause 
unemployment  or  to  providing  means  for  bringing  the  men  and  the 
work  together. 

SEC.  7.  That  as  used  in  this  Act  the  term  "interstate  employ- 
ment business"  means  the  business  of  securing  work  to  be  performed 
outside  the  State  where  the  business  is  carried  on  and  which  involves 
the  transportation  of  the  workman  from  one  State  to  another. 


IX 
SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  UNEMPLOYMENT 


BRIEF  LIST  OF  REFERENCES 

ON 

UNEMPLOYMENT,  EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES  AND 
UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 

Prepared  by  the 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

UNITED  STATES  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS 

LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  UNEMPLOYMENT 


This  select  list  of  titles  is  here  printed  in  the  hope  that  it  may  be 
found  immediately  useful  by  the  growing  numbers  of  Americans  who 
now  realize  as  never  before  that  there  exists  in  this  country  a  permanent 
and  demoralizing  problem  of  unemployment.  Effort  has  been  made 
to  present  only  those  works  which  will  most  readily  put  the  American 
seeker  after  information  in  touch  with  the  latest  facts  and  the  best 
thought  upon  the  various  phases  of  the  problem. 

Additions  will  be  made  to  the  list  during  the  year.  Copies  of  all 
publications  on  the  subject  are  therefore  urgently  solicited  in  order  that 
from  this  beginning  there  may  be  prepared  a  comprehensive  bibliography, 
conveniently  arranged  and  classified  and  fully  annotated,  for  the  guidance 
of  all  who  wish  to  make  future  work  more  effective. 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

Beveridge,    W.    H.      Unemployment;  cago  press,   1910.     282  p.     "Unem- 

a    problem    of    industry.      London,  ployment",  p.  205-208. 

.., " .           .  .'  discher,  italienischer.  norwegischer. 

Bibliographic    der    sozialwissenschaf-  portugiesischer,      spanischer      und 

™n>    u  1Dresdcen'     .Bohmert,      1906—  tschechischer    Sprache    gesammelte 

Monthly.       See     in     each     number  Berichte.      Grunewald-Berlin,    1904. 

Section  vin.  cjj  p 

•••••••: . J&hrbuch,  1906-1908.  Taylor,  F.  Isabel.  A  bibliography  of 

Dresden,  Bohmert,  1907-09.  No  unemployment  and  the  unemployed, 

more  published  .  London,  King,  1909. 

Bullock  ED.  Selected  articles  on  Verband  deutscher  arbeitsnachweise. 
compulsory  insur^n  e. ^^ 

"Bibliography,"  p.   [xvii]-xxxv. 
Foerster    Robert  F.     Unemployment      ..  .Bibhothek    des    Verbandes 

and       vagrancy.         [Bibliography]  deutscher    Arbeitsnachweise.      Ber- 

(Harvard   University.  ^    A   guide  %  to  lin,  1911.    42  p. 

reading  in   social  ethics  and  allied  Wagner,  Moritz.     Beitrage  zur  frage 

subjects.        Cambridge,      1910.      p.  der       arbeitslosen      fursorge      in 

157-162.)                                            .  Deutschland.          Berlin-Grunewald, 

Journal  of  political  economy.     Bibh-  1004.    95  p.    "Bibliographic  der  ar- 

ography    of    economics     for     1909.  beitslosen-versicherung":     p.     [90]- 

Chicago,    111.,    University    of    Chi-  95. 


404 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


GENERAL  WORKS 


Abbott,  Edith.  Municipal  employ- 
ment of  unemployed  women  in 
London.  (Journal  of  political 
economy,  Nov.  1907,  v.  15:513-530.) 

Adams,  Thomas  Sewall,  and  Sumner, 
H.   L.     Labor   Problems:     A  Text 
Book.    "Poverty,  Earnings  and  Un- 
employment", p.   142-174. 
Brief  descriptive  and  statistical  discussion. 

Addams,  Jane.  Solving  the  problem 
of  the  unemployed.  (Ladies'  home 
journal,  Sept.  1913,  v.  30:23.) 

Alden,  Percy.  The  unemployed,  a 
national  question.  London,  King, 
1905,  199  P.. 

Discusses  rise  of  the  unemployment  prob- 
lem, indirect  and  direct  remedies  for  various 
types  of  unemployment,  and  principles  of 
labor  colony  administration. 

The  unemployable  and  unem- 
ployed. London,  Headley,  1908. 
155  P- 

Outlines  of  the  problem,  definitions,  sug- 
gested remedies. 

American  association  for  labor  legis- 
lation. Unemployment:  A  prob- 
lem of  industry.  Program  and  an- 
nouncement issued  by  the  Ameri- 
can association  for  labor  legislation 

National  Conference  on  Unem- 
ployment, New  York  city,  February 
27-28,  1914.  16  p. 

Data  on  unemployment  in  the  United 
States,  and  American  and  international  or- 
ganization to  combat  the  evil. 

American    social   science   association. 

The  Relief  of  the  unemployed  in  the 
United  States  during  the  winter  of 
1893-1894,  52  p.  (Journal  of  social 
science,  Nov.  1894.) 

A  report  made  at  Saratoga,  September  7, 
1894. 

Association  natipnale  francaise  pour 
la  protection  legale  des  travailleurs 
Les  problemes  du  chomage.  Rap- 
porteurs: MM.  F.  Fagnot,  Max 
Lazard,  Louis  Varlez  .  .  .  Paris, 
1910.  215  p. 

La  lutte  centre  le  chomage 

.  .  .  Rapports  de  M.  de  Lauwe- 
reyns  de  Roosendale  .  .  .  Discus- 
sions et  voeux.  Lille,  1910.  56  p. 

Association  of  neighborhood  work- 
ers. Committee  on  unemployment. 
Unemployment.  New  York,  1908. 
24  p. 

Gives  reasons  for  supporting  bills  provid- 
ing for  a  state  commission  to  report  on 
remedies  for  unemployment. 


Australia.  Bureau  of  census  and  sta- 
tistics. Labour  and  industrial 
branch.  Trade  unionism,  unem- 
ployment, wages,  prices,  and  cost 
of  living  in  Australia,  1891-1912. 
G.  H.  Knibbs.  Melbourne,  1913. 
77  P. 

Barnett,  S.  A.  The  problem  of  dis- 
tress among  the  unemployed.  (In- 
ternational, Nov.  1908,  v.  3:265-270.) 

Bellamy,  Edward.  How  to  employ 
the  unemployed  in  mutual  mainten- 
ance. Boston?,  1893?. 

Outline  for  a  permanent,  state-controlled 
establishment  for  the  co-operative  self  sup- 
port of  the  unemployed. 

Beveridge,  William  Henry.  Unem- 
ployment: a  problem  of  industry. 
London,  Longmans,  Green,  1912. 
405  P. 

The  "Bible  of  unemployment."  Discusses 
the  problem  and  its  limits,  sources  of  infor- 
mation, seasonal  fluctuations,  cyclical  fluc- 
tuation, the  reserve  of  labor,  loss  and  lack 
of  industrial  quality,  the  personal  factor, 
remedies  of  the  past,  and  principles  of  fu- 
ture policy.  Valuable  appendix  on  public 
labor  exchanges  in  Germany. 

Unemployed  workmen  act  in 

1906-07.     (Sociological  review,  Jan. 
1908,  v.  1:79-83-) 

Bicknell,  Ernest  P.  Problems  of 
philanthropy  in  Chicago.  The 
Academy,  Philadelphia,  1903.  37-46 
P. 

Bilgram,  Hugo.  Involuntary  idleness. 
An  exposition  of  the  cause  of  the 
discrepancy  existing  between  the 
supply  of,  and  the  demand  for, 
labor  and  its  products.  Philadel- 
phia, Lippincott,  1889.  119  p. 
*  A  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can economic  association,  Philadelphia,  Dec. 
29,  1888. 

Bliss,  William  D.  P.  Unemployment. 
(Encyclopedia  of  social  reform,  p. 
1243-1246.  New  York,  1908.) 

Bowley,  A.  L.  The  measurement  of 
employment:  an  experiment.  (Royal 
statistical  society.  Journal,  July, 
1912,  v.  75:791-822.) 

Brandt,  Lillian.  The  causes  of  pov- 
erty. (Political  science  quarterly, 
Dec.  1908,  v.  23:637-651.) 

Brewster,  A.  R.  Early  experiments 
with  the  unemployed.  (Quarterly 
journal  of  economics,  1895,  v.  Q,  p. 
88-95.) 

Broda,     Rodolphe.       The     campaign 


General  Works 


405 


against  unemployment.  (Interna- 
tional, Nov.  1909,  v.  6:223-228.) 

Brooks,  J.  G.  The  future  problem 
of  charity  and  the  unemployed. 
27  p.  (From  American  academy  of 
•political  and  social  science.  The 
annals,  1894,  v.  5.) 

The  unemployed  in  German 

cities.  (Quarterly  journal  of  eco- 
nomics, v.  7,  p.  353-358.) 

Burke,  Lot  F.  If  the  unemployed  go 
to  work.  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Wade, 

1897.  82  p. 

Channing,  F.  C.  Oversaving  and  the 
unemployed.  (Economic  review, 

1898,  v.  8,  p.  215-224.) 
Chapman,     Sydney     J.       Work     and 

wages,  in  continuation  of  Lord 
Brassey's  'Work  and  wages'  and 
'Foreign  work  and  English  wages'. 
Ft.  II,  Wages  and  employment. 
London,  Longmans,  Green,  1908. 
494  p.  "Unemployment",  p.  3°4- 
384. 

Chapman,  Sydney  John,  and  Halls- 
worth,  H.  M.  Unemployment;  the 
results  of  an  investigation  made  in 
Lancashire  and  an  examination  of 
the  Report  of  the  Poor  law  com- 
mission. Manchester,  1909. 

Intensive  study  by  age,  trade  and  sex 
of  organized  and  unorganized  workers  in 
the  district,  with  program  for  amelioration. 

Chicago  (111.).  Commission  on  the 
unemployed.  Report.  Chicago, 
1914. 

Results  of  two  years'  intensive  study. 
Charles  R.  Crane,  chairman,  Ckarles  R. 
Henderson,  secretary. 

Citizens'  relief  committee,  Boston 
(Mass.).  Report.  Boston,  1894- 
62  p. 

Results  of  efforts  to  provide  relief  work 
during  the  depression  of  1893-94. 

Closson,  C.  C.  Notes  on  the  history 
of  unemployment  and  relief  meas- 
ures in  the  United  States.  (Jour- 
nal of  political  economy,  1895,  v.  3, 
p.  461-469.) 

Unemployed  in  American 

cities.  (Quarterly  journal  of  eco- 
nomics, v.  8,  p.  168-217,  453-477-) 

Collett,  Anthony.  A  letter  to  Thomas 
Sherlock  Gooch,  esq.  M.  P.,  upon 
the  present  ruinous  system  of  re- 
lieving unemployed  men  with 
money  instead  of  providing  them 
with  work;  detailing  a  legislative 
plan,  for  the  employment  of  the 
poor,  with  provisional  enactments. 
Halesworth  [Eng.],  1824.  65  p. 


Coman,  Katharine.  Unemployment, 
a  world  problem,  and  the  congress 
at  Ghent.  (Survey,  Feb.  28,  1914. 
v.  31:667-669.) 

Sympathetic  report  of  the  transactions  of 
the  first  general  congress  on  unemployment, 
at  Ghent,  September,  1913. 

Commercial  club  (Indianapolis)  re- 
lief committee.  Relief  for  the  un- 
employed in  Indianapolis.  Report 
of  the  Commercial  club,  relief  com- 
mittee and  its  auxiliary,  the  Citi- 
zens' finance  committee.  1893-1894. 
Indianapolis,  1894.  68  p. 

Constructive  proposals.  (American 
labor  legislation  review,  May  1914, 

v.  4,   no.  2:309-354.) 

General  discussion  of  an  immediate  pro- 
gram, with  resolutions. 

Convention  of  the  unemployed,  New 
York  City.  (New  York  standard, 
March  15,  1872.) 

Dague,  R.  A.  An  act  to  give  employ- 
ment to  the  unemployed,  widely 
'known  as  the  Dague  tramp  bill. 
Chicago,  Kerr,  1899.  20  p.  (Unity 
library  no.  96.) 

Proposes  state  wide  public  relief  work 
on  county  farms  or  on  highways. 

Daniels,  Percy.  Swollen  fortunes 
and  the  problem  of  the  unemployed. 
Carthage,  Mo.,  1908.  74  p. 

Discusses  the  distribution  of  wealth,  the 
unemployed,  and  the  effect  of  industrial 
trusts. 

Davison,  R.  C.  Employment  and  un- 
employment: the  latest  phase. 
(Westminster  review,  Sept.  1912, 
v.  178:  270-276.) 

Dawbarn,  Climenson  Yelverton 
Charles.  Liberty  and  progress. 
London,  Longmans,  Green,  1909. 

339  P.. 

Contains  sections  on  the  employed,  the 
principles  of  employment,  and  the  under- 
paid and  unemployed. 

Dearie,  Norman  Burrell.  Problems 
of  unemployment  in  the  London 
building  trades.  London,  Dent, 
1908.  203  p. 

Detailed  study  of  variations  of  employ- 
ment in  the  building  trades,  causes,  effect 
of  trade  unions,  and  methods  of  meeting 
the  fluctuations. 

Detroit  (Mich.)  Agricultural  com- 
mittee. Report  of  Committee  on 
the  cultivation  of  idle  land  by  the 
poor  and  unemployed,  1896.  14  p. 

Devine,  Edward  Thomas.  Misery 
and  its  causes.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan,  1909.  "Out  of  work",  p. 
113-146. 

The  maladjustments  which  lead  to  unenv 
ployment  and  proposed  remedies. 


4o6 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


Dcwey,  Davis  R.  Irregularity  of  em- 
ployment. (American  economic  as- 
sociation. Publication  no.  5-6,  1894, 
p.  53-67.) 

Dibblee,  George  Binney.  The  laws 
of  supply  and  demand,  with  special 
reference  to  their  influence  on  over- 
production and  unemployment. 
London,  Constable,  1912. 

Theoretical  discussion.  Contains  sections 
on  the  sale  of  labor  and  the  right  to  work. 

Drage,  Geoffrey.  The  unemployed. 
London,  Macmillan,  1894.  277  p. 

Classified  discussion  of  agencies  dealing 
with  unemployment,  accomplishments  in  tke 
past  and  outlines  of  future  policy. 

Dreiser,  T.  Men  in  the  dark. 
(American  magazine,  Feb.  1912,  v. 
73:465-468.) 

The  effect  of  tariffs  on  unemploy- 
ment, by  an  economist.  London, 
Cassell,  1910.  35  p. 

Ethical  social  league.  Statement  of 
unemployment.  New  York,  April 
7,  1908. 

Fisk,  A.  C.  The  solution  of  the  un- 
employed. New  York?,  1910?. 

Proposes  a  joint  stock  company  for  the 
purchase  of  land. 

Flynt,  Josiah.  (pseud,  for  J.  F.  Wil- 
lard).  Tramping  with  tramps: 
Studies  and  sketches  of  vagabond 
life.  New  York,  Century  co.,  1899. 
398  p. 

The  author's  experiences  in  Germany, 
Russia,  England  and  the  United  States. 

France.  Commission  des  crises  eco- 
nomiques.  Rapports  presentes  au 
nom  de  la  commission  par  MM. 
Georges-Cahen  et  Edmond  Laurent 
.  .  .  sur  les  indices  des  crises  eco- 
nomiques  et  sur  les  mesures  finan- 
cieres  propres  a  attenuer  les  cho- 
mages  resultant  de  ces  crises. 
Paris,  1910.  78  p. 

Gaylord,  W.  R.  Unemployment;  the 
problem  and  the  remedies  pro- 
posed. Milwaukee,  1909.  39  p. 

Definition,  statistics,  causes,  and  the  So- 
cialist analysis. 

General  kommission  der  gewerkschaf- 
ten  Deutschlands.  Die  Arbeitslosen 
unterstutzung  im  Reich,  Staat  und 
Gemeinde.  Berlin,  1911.  112. 

Gokhale,  Shankar  Laxman.  The  un- 
employment problem,  by  "Analyti- 
cus".  Albany,  N.  Y.,  1912.  3-38  p. 

Great  Britain.  Board  of  Trade.  Six- 
teenth abstract  of  labor  statistics  of 
the  United  Kingdom.  London,  1913. 

Contains     especially     fluctuations     in     em- 


ployment, unemployment  insurance,  Board 
of  trade  labor  exchanges,  women's  employ- 
ment bureaux,  distress  committees,  trade 
union  unemployed  benefits. 

Labour      gazette.        London, 

monthly,  1893 — . 

Regularly  contains  sections  on  the  labor 
market,  unemployment  insurance,  employ- 
ment in  the  principal  industries,  and  Board 
of  trade  labor  exchanges. 

Great  Britain.  Local  government 
board.  Annual  report.  London, 
1905  to  date;  1912-13  issued  in  3 
parts.  "The  Unemployed  workmen 
act,"  pt.  i. 

Return  as  to  the  proceedings 

of  distress  committees  in  England 
and  Wales  and  of  the  Central  (un- 
employed) body  for  London  under 
the  Unemployed  workmen  act, 
1905.  London,  1909-12. 

Great  Britain.  Parliament.  House 
of  commons.  Select  committee  on 
distress  from  want  of  employment. 
First[ — third]  report  from  the  Se- 
lect committee  on  distress  from 
want  of  employment,  together  with 
the  proceedings  of  the  committee, 
minutes  of  evidence,  appendix[es] 
and  index.  London,  1895.  3  v. 

Great  Britain.  Royal  commission  on 
poor  laws  and  relief  of  distress. 
Report  of  the  Royal  commission 
on  the  poor  laws  and  relief  of  dis- 
tress. Part  VI.— Distress  due  to 
unemployment.  London,  1909.  303- 
445  P. 

The    Minority   report    of   the 

Poor  law  commission  .  .  .  London, 
Printed  for  the  National  committee 
to  promote  the  break-up  of  the 
Poor  law,  1909.  2  v. 

Grenfell,  Arthur  P.  Afforestation  and 
unemployment.  London,  Fabian 
society,  1912.  14  p. 

Hard,  William.  Unemployment  as  a 
coming  issue.  (American  labor 
legislation  review,  Feb.  1912,  v. 
2:93-100.) 

Argues  for  a  thorough  study  of  the 
problem. 

Hardie,  James  Keir.  John  Bull  and 
his  unemployed.  A  plain  statement 
on  the  law  of  England  as  it  affects 
the  unemployed.  London,  Inde- 
pendent labour  party,  1905.  15  p. 

Hatch,  E.  F.  G.  A  reproach  to  civi- 
lization. Treatise  on  the  problem 
of  the  unemployed  and  some  sug- 
gestions for  a  possible  solution. 
London,  1907. 


General  Works 


407 


Henderson,  Charles  Richmond.     The 

struggle  against  unemployment. 
(American  labor  legislation  review, 
May,  1914,  v.  4,  no.  2:294-299.) 

Popular  appeal  for  vigorous  and  united 
action. 

Recent  advances  in  the  strug- 
gle against  unemployment.  (Amer- 
ican labor  legislation  review,  Feb. 
1912,  v.  2:  105-110.) 

Progress  in  statistics,  preventive  measures, 
and  insurance. 

Hendrick,  Burton  J.  A  scientific  em- 
ployment plan.  (American  review 
of  reviews,  Nov.  1913,  v.  48:567- 
576.) 

Hobson,  John  Atkinson.  The  prob- 
lem of  the  unemployed,  an  enquiry 
and  an  economic  policy.  London, 
Methuen,  1896.  163  p. 

Treats  of  the  meaning  of  unemployment, 
minor  causes,  the  root  cause,  palliatives, 
and  the  economic  remedy. 

Hope,  A.  T.  Canada  and  the  unem- 
ployed problem;  some  suggestions 
for  its  solution.  London,  1909. 
76  p. 

International  association  on  unem- 
ployment. Bulletin  trimestriel  de 
TAssociation  internationale  pour  le 
lutte  -contre'  le  chomage;  edited  by 
Max  Lazard.  Paris,  1911 — 

Contains  articles  by  European  and  Ameri- 
can specialists,  in  English,  French  and  Ger- 
man. The  issues  which  have  appeared  to 
date  have  dealt  with  the  following  topics: 
1911,  no.  1:  unemployment  insurance;  no.  2: 
employment  bureaus.  1912,  no.  1-2,  rela- 
tion of  child  labor  to  unemployment;  No.  3 
relation  of  emigration  and  immigration  to  un- 
employment, employment  bureaus  for  agri- 
cultural workers;  no.  4:  proceedings  of  the 
third  session  of  the  International  committee 
on  unemployment.  1913,  no.  1,  aid  to  the 
unemployed;  no.  2,  statistics  of  unemploy- 
ment; no.  3.  results  of  the  international 
study  of  public  employment  exchanges  in 
1911;  no.  4,  reports  on  unemployment  and 
migration.  1914,  no.  1,  international  reports 
on  the  operation  of  unemployment  insurance 
systems,  reports  on  unemployment  and  public 
works. 

First  general  meeting.   Ghent, 

5-6  September,  1913.     30  p. 

Contains  reports  in  French,  German,  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch. 

.Belgian     section.       Brochure 


No.  1-2,  Gand,  1911-12. 

No.  1  is  on  "Les  institutions  centre  le 
chomage  en  Belgique,"  and  No.  2  deals 
with  La  contribution  beige  a  la  statistique 
internationale  du  chomage." 

Hungarian  section.     Publica- 
tions.    Budapest,  1911 — 

The  contents  of  the  publications  so  far 
issued  are  1.  szam.  A  munkanelkuliseg  elleni 
kuzdelem.  Tajekoztato  a  mozganlom  kelet- 
kezeserol.  t  2.  szam.  A  munkanelkuliseg 
es  a  munkasvankorlasok.  3.  szam.  A  muna- 


piac  megszervezese  es  a  munkakozvetitei. 
(Elokeszites  alatt.)  4.  szam.  A  gazdasagi 
helyzet  es  a  munkanelkuliseg.  (As  egyesiilet 
szaktnacskozmanyanak  j egyzony ve. ) 

International  conference  on  unem- 
ployment, ist,  Paris,  1910.  Compte 
rendu  de  la  Conference  interna- 
tionale du  chomage.  Paris,  1911. 
3  v. 

The  "Compte  rendu"  is  almost  entirely  in 
French;  the  "Rapports"  in  French,  English, 
or  German,  with  a  summary  in  the  other 
two  languages. 

The  International  conference  on  un- 
employment, 1910.  (Royal  statisti- 
cal society.  Journal,  Dec.,  1910,  v. 
74:  67-70.) 

Irregularity  of  employment.  Reports 
of  official  delegates  to  the  First 
national  conference  on  unemploy- 
ment, New  York,  1914.  (American 
labor  legislation  review,  May,  1914* 
v.  4,  no.  2:219-254.) 

Statements  from  representatives  of  twenty- 
five  leading  industrial  states  on  conditions 
in  the  winter  of  1913-14. 
Irwin,  Will.  The  floating  laborer. 
(Saturday  evening  post,  May  9,  1914. 
v.  186,  no.  45:  3-5,  41-50.). 

First  of  a  series  of  three  articles. 

Jackson,  Cyril.  Unemployment  and 
trade  unions.  London,  Longmans, 
Green,  1910.  92  p. 

Proposes  remedies,  and  argues  for  the 
trade  unions  as  the  instruments  of  gov- 
ernmental effort. 

Jackson,  Cyril  and  Pringle,  J.  C.  Re- 
port on  the  effects  of  employment 
or  assistance  given  to  the  "Unem- 
ployed" since  1886  as  a  means  of 
relieving  distress  outside  of  the 
poor  law.  London,  1909.  757  p. 

Jevons,  Herbert  Stanley.  The  causes 
of  unemployment.  (Contemporary 
review,  May,  1909,  v.  95:548-565.) 

The  sun's  heat  and  trade  ac- 
tivity. London,  King,  1910.  35  p. 

Discusses  the  relation  between  bad  har- 
vests and  unemployment. 

Insurance  and  training  for 

the  unemployed.  (New  Zealand. 
Department  of  labour.  Journal, 
1911,  v.  19:610-621.) 

Jonas,  Alexander.  Why  workmen  are 
unemployed.  An  answer  to  a  burn- 
ing question.  New  York,  New  York 
labor  news  co.,  1894.  10  p.  (Labor 
library  no.  9.) 

Kellogg,  Arthur  P.  The  man  put  of 
work  to-day.  (American  review  of 
reviews,  Mar.,  1908,  v.  37:336-339.) 

Kellor,  Frances  Alice.  Unemploy- 
ment: A  program  for  relief.  New 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


York,  1914.  8  p.  (Reprinted  from 
the  Survey,  Feb.  7,  14,  21,  1914.) 

A  discussion  of  conditions  in  New  York 
city,  with  recommendations. 

Kelly,  Edmond.  The  elimination  of 
the  tramp,  by  the  introduction  into 
America  of  the  labor  colony  system 
already  proved  effective  in  Holland, 
Belgium  and  Switzerland.  New 
York,  Putnam,  1908.  in  p. 

Describes  systems  in  use  in  Europe,  with 
suggestions  for  their  adaptation  to  America. 

Keyser,  J.  H.  How  shall  the  surplus 
labor  of  the  country  be  employed? 
The  limitation  of  wealth  and  land 
the  last  hope  of  the  republic:  how 
to  break  monopoly.  New  York, 
1888?  (National  limitation  associa- 
tion, Educational  series  no.  4.) 

Kingsbury,  John  A.  Our  army  of  the 
unemployed.  (American  review  of 
reviews,  Apr.  1914,  v.  49,  no.  4:433- 

439-) 

A  popular  statement  of  the  problem  and  of 
recent  efforts  to  solve  it. 

Labor  conference.  Proceedings  of  the 
conference  with  the  representatives 
of  labor  held  in  the  office  of  the 
secretary  of  commerce  and  labor> 
Feb.  10-11,  1909.  Washington,  Govt. 
print,  off.,  1909.  133  p. 

Addresses  by  trade  union  leaders,  partly 
on  relation  of  immigration  to  employment. 

Lavergne,  A.  de.  Le  chomage;  causes 
— consequences  —  remedes.  Paris 
Riviere,  1910.  420  p. 

Lazard,  Max.  Le  chomage  et  la  pro- 
fession, contribution  a  1'etude  statis- 
tique  du  chomage  et  de  son  coeffi- 
cient professionnel.  Paris,  Alcan, 

1909.     379  P.    . 

Study  of  relative  degrees  of  unemploy- 
ment in  various  occupations. 

Leach,  R.  A.  The  "Unemployed 
workmen  act,  1905".  With  the  or- 
ders and  regulations  issued  by  the 
local  government  board  under  the 
provisions  of  the  act;  and  notes. 
Rochdale,  1905.  192  p. 

Leiserson,  William  Morris.  Unem- 
ployment in  the  state  of  New  York. 
New  York,  1911,  p.  25-199. 

A  careful  study  of  conditions,  made  for 
the  New  York  state  commission  on  employ- 
ers' liability  and  unemployment,  1911. 

The  Duluth  rock  pile.  (Sur- 
vey, Sept.  20,  1913,  v.  3o:729-73i-) 

The  laborer  who  refuses  to 

invest.  (Survey,  Nov.  8,  1913,  v. 
31:  164-165.) 

Discusses  the  problem  of  the  drifter. 

Letourneux,    Georges.      L'action    so- 


ciale  des  municipalites  allemandes. 
Paris,  Rousseau,  1911.  410  p.  "Le 
role  des  municipalites  allemandes 
dans  la  lutte  contre  le  chomage", 
chap.  4,  p.  141-198.  Bibliographic, 
p.  197-198. 

Lloyd,  C.  M.  The  evil  of  casual  la- 
bour, and  how  to  meet  it.  (New 
Zealand.  Department  of  labour. 
Journal,  Oct.  1910,  v.  18:823-828.) 

La  Lutte  contre  le  chomage,  organe 
de  la  Section  beige  de  1'Association 
internationale.  Gand,  1912 — 

Five  numbers  annually  discuss  unemploy- 
ment conditions  and  unemployment  insur- 
ance. 

McAnally,  David  Rice.  The  unem- 
ployed. Who  they  are,  why  they 
are  idle,  and  what  is  their  outlook. 
St.  Louis,  1889.  92  p. 

McLean,  F.  H.  Our  many  Iliads. 
(Survey,  Nov.  I,  1913,  v.  31:141- 
142.) 

Mackay,  Thomas.  Relief  by  means 
of  employment.  (Economic  re- 
view, 1896,  v.  6,  p.  183-192.) 

Mallock,  W.  H.  The  facts  at  the 
back  of  unemployment.  (Nine- 
teenth century  and  after,  June, 
1911,  v.  69:  1104-1123.) 

Marsh,  Benjamin  C.  Causes  of  vag- 
rancy and  methods  of  eradication. 
(American  academy  of  political  and 
social  science,  pub.  no.  419.) 

Martin,  John.  The  remedy  for  un- 
employment: a  sympathetic  review 
of  the  minority  report  on  the  poor 
law.  (Survey,  Apr.  17,  1909,  v.  22: 

II5-II7.) 

Massachusetts.  Board  to  investigate 
the  subject  of  the  unemployed.  Re- 
port of  the  Massachusetts  board  to 
investigate  the  subject  of  the  un- 
employed. Boston,  1895. 

Contains  sections  on  relief  measures,  way- 
farers and  tramps,  public  works,  and  causes 
of  unemployment. 

Massachusetts.     Bureau   of  statistics. 

Quarterly  report  on  the  state  of  em- 
ployment. Boston,  1912 — 

Reports  for  1908  in  Labor  bulletins  no.  59, 
61,  62,  63. 

Reports  for  1909-1911  are  Labor  bulletins 
no.  64,  66,  69,  71,  72,  74,  77,  79,  80,  82, 
85,  89. 

Massachusetts.  Bureau  of  statistics 
of  labor.  Unemployment.  Boston, 
1894.  267  p. 

Mavor,  James.  Labor  colonies  and 
the  unemployed.  (Journal  of  po- 
litical economy,  1894,  v.  2,  p.  26-53.) 


General  Works 


409 


Michels,  Robert  and  Michels- Lindner, 
Gisela.  Das  Problem  der  Arbeits- 
losigkeit  und  ihre  Bekampfung 
durch  die  deutschen  freien  Gewerk- 
schaften.  (Archiv  fiir  Sozialwis- 
senschaft  und  Sozialpolitik,  Sept. 
1910,  v.  31:421-497.) 

Mitchell,  John.  Protect  the  work- 
man. (Unemployment  and  immi- 
gration.) (Outlook,  Sept.  ii,  1909, 
v.  93:65-69.) 

Moody,  W.  G.  Our  labor  difficulties: 
The  cause  and  the  way  out;  includ- 
ing the  paper  on  the  displacement 
of  labor  by  improvements  in  ma- 
chinery, by  a  committee  appointed 
by  the  American  social  science  as- 
sociation .  .  .  read  before  the  as- 
sociation in  Cincinnati,  May  24, 
1878.  Boston,  1878.  9-96  p. 

Moore,  Harold  E.  Our  heritage  in 
the  land.  London,  King,  1906. 
136  p. 

Deals  with  a  scheme  for  using  the  land, 
results  of  unskilled  labor  on  land,  manage- 
ment of  a  hand  husbandry  farm,  the  training 
of  men  unskilled  in  rural  work,  settlement 
on  English  land,  poor  law  guardians  and 
the  land. 

Most,  Otto.  The  problem  of  unem- 
ployment in  Germany.  London, 
Cassell,  1910.  24  p.  (Reprinted 
from  the  English  review,  Sept. 
1910,  v.  6:342-360.) 

Mullenbach,  James  and  Henderson, 
C.  R.  The  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment. (City  club  of  Chicago.  City 
club  bulletin,  Mar.  n,  1912,  v.  5:  49- 
58.) 

Nagel,  Charles.    Introductory  address, 
The      unemployment      problem      in 
America.     (American  labor  legisla- 
tion review,  Feb.  1912,  v.  2:91-92.) 
Brief    argument    for    constructive    action. 

National  committee  for  the  preven- 
tion of  destitution.  The  case  for 
the  national  minimum.  London, 
1913.  89  p.  "Prevention  of  unem- 
ployment", c.  vi. 

National  conference  on  the  unem- 
ployment of  women  dependent  on 
their  own  earnings,  London,  Oct. 
15,  iQO?.  Report.  London,  Wo- 
men's industrial  council,  1907.  39  p. 
Proceedings  of  a  conference  called  by  the 
Women's  industrial  council,  London. 

Nearing,  Scott.  The  extent  of  un- 
employment in  the  United  States. 
(American  statistical  association. 
Publications,  Sept.  1909,  v.  11:525- 
542.) 


Netherlands.  Staatscommissie  over 
de  werkloosheid.  Verslag.  's-Gra- 
venhage,  1913.  8  v. 

Detailed  reports  on  unemployment  in  var- 
ious groups  of  important  industries,  by  »even 
sub-committees  of  the  government  commis- 
sion on  unemployment  appointed  in  1909, 
with  a  general  introduction  and  recommenda- 
tions. 

New  England  association  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  unemployed.  Those  that 
own  the  soil  own  the  country.  The 
ownership  of  land  is  the  basis  of 
true  wealth.  Land  is  the  founda- 
tion of  all  security.  New  Haven, 
1877. 

New  Jersey.  Bureau  of  statistics  of 
labor  and  industries.  The  problem 
of  the  unemployed.  (Twenty-fifth 
annual  report,  1902,  p.  213-257. 
Somerville,  N.  J.,  1903.) 

New  South  Wales.  Labour  bureau. 
Regulations  for  the  classification 
and  registration  of  the  unemployed. 
(Sydney,  1900.  6  p.) 

New  York.  Commission  on  employ- 
ers' liability  and  other  matters. 
Third  report,  Unemployment  and 
lack  of  farm  labor.  Albany,  1911. 
245  P. 

Study  of  conditions  in  New  York  state 
and  brief  description  of  unemployment  insur- 
ance plans  in  force  abroad. 

New    York.      Department    of    labor. 

Bulletins,  series  on  unemployment. 
No.  i:  Idleness  of  organized  wage 
earners  on  September  30,  1913. 

New  York  association  for  improving 
the  condition  of  the  poor.  New 
York  city.  Report  on  the  question 
of  unemployment  in  New  York  city. 
New  York,  1913. 

Cultivation  of  vacant  city 

lots  by  the  unemployed.  (A.  I.  C. 
P.  Notes,  v.  i,  no.  i.  48  p.) 

Petersen,  Jens  Christian.  The  solu- 
tion of  the  labor  problem;  how  the 
workers  may  organize  and  take  off 
the  market  the  unemployed;  how  to 
get  control  of  the  jobs.  Butte, 
Mont.,  1912.  46  p. 

Plan  for  a  system  of  voluntary,  demo- 
cratically managed  employment  agencies 
among  the  workers. 

Picard,  Roger.  Les  crises  econom- 
iques  et  le  chomage.  (Revue  social- 
iste,  June  15,  1912,  v.  55:512-521.) 

Post,  H.  Untersuchungen  uber  den 
umfang  der  erwerbslosigkeit  inner- 
halb  der  einzelnen  berufe  und 
berufsgruppen.  Jena,  Fischer,  1914. 
174  P- 


4io 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


Pringle,  J.  C.  Report  on  the  effects 
of  employment  or  assistance  given 
to  the  "Unemployed"  since  1886  as 
a  means  of  relieving  distress  out- 
side the  Poor  law  of  Scotland. 
London,  1910.  193  p. 

Public  responsibility.  (American  la- 
bor legislation  review,  May,  1914, 
v  4,  no.  2:255-277.) 

General  discussion  of  methods  in  opera- 
tion in  the  United  States  for  preventing  un- 
employment and  for  alleviating  the  distress 
consequent  thereto. 

Raine,  G.  E.  Present-day  Socialism, 
and  the  problem  of  the  unemployed; 
a  criticism  of  the  platform  pro- 
posals of  the  moderate  Socialists; 
together  with  some  suggestions  for 
a  constructive  scheme  of  reform. 
London,  Nash,  1908.  207  p. 

Final  chapter  deals  with  unemployment 
and  proposed  remedies. 

Rhode  Island.  Bureau  of  industrial 
statistics.  Rhode  Island's  unem- 
ployed breadwinners.  Providence, 
R.  I.,  1908.  50  p. 

The  right  to  work.  (Edinburgh  re- 
view, Jan.  1911,  v.  213:  180-199.) 

Ring,  Henry  F.  The  problem  of  the 
unemployed.  Houston?  Tex.,  1905. 
280  p. 

A  work  on  political  economy,  in  which  an 
attempt  is  made  to  show  the  underlying 
cause  of  involuntary  idleness  and  the  failure 
of  wages  to  keep  pace  with  the  increasing 
wealth-producing  power  of  wage  earners. 

Roberts,  E.  Experiments  in  Ger- 
many with  unemployment.  (Scrib- 
ner's  magazine,  Jan.  1911,  v.  49: 
116-120.) 

Rowntree,  B.  Seebohm  and  Lasker, 
Bruno.  Unemployment,  a  social 
study.  London,  Macmillan,  1911. 

317  P. 

An  account  of  a  detailed  investigation  of 
unemployment  in  York,  together  with  sug- 
gestions for  remedying  the  evils  which  it 
disclosed. 

St.  Clair,  Oswald.  Low  wages  and  no 
wages;  an  essay  on  the  economic 
causes  of  poverty,  unemployment 
and  bad  trade.  London,  1908.  9- 
240  p. 

Attributes  unemployment  to  under-con- 
sumption. 

Salter,  William  Mackintire.  What 
can  be  done  for  the  unemployed? 
Philadelphia,  Lippincott,  1894.  i6p. 

Samuelson,  James.  Unemployment 
and  its  proposed  remedies.  (Civili- 
zation of  our  day,  1896,  p.  167-181.) 

Sargent,  Frank  Byron.  Statistics  of 
unemployment  and  the  work  of  em- 


ployment offices.  Washington, 
Govt.  print,  off.,  1913.  147  p.  (Bul- 
letin of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
labor,  whole  no.  109.  Miscellaneous 
series,  no.  I.) 

Results  of  a  comprehensive  investigation 
into  unemployment  statistics  and  the  opera- 
tion of  employment  exchanges  in  the  United 
States. 

Seager,  Henry  Rogers.  The  English 
method  of  dealing  with  the  unem- 
ployed. (American  labor  legisla- 
tion review,  May  1914,  v.  4,  no.  2: 
281-293.) 

Popular  description  of  the  British  em- 
ployment exchange  and  compulsory  unem- 
ployment insurance  systems. 

Smet,  Robert  de.    Le  risque-chomage. 

Gand,  1913.     28  p. 
Solenberger,     Alice     Willard.       One 

thousand   homeless   men:     A  study 

of    original    records.      New    York, 

Charities      publication      committee, 

1911. 
Sections    on    the    occupations   of   the    men 

studied  and  on  seasonal  and  casual  labor. 
Strong,    Charles.      Unemployment    in 

Victoria.     (International,  Apr.  1909, 

v.  5:38-41.) 
Suthers,  Robert  B.    My  right  to  work. 

London,  Clarion  press,  1906.     143  p. 

Discusses   unemployment. 

Tawney,  Jeanette.  Women  and  un- 
employment. (Economic  journal, 
Mar.  1911,  v.  21:131-139.) 

Unemployment  conference,  New 
York,  1908.  The  Union  Square 
demonstration  and  the  unemploy- 
ed conference.  New  York,  1908. 

United  States  Bureau  of  labor  statis- 
tics. Statistics  of  unemployment  and 
the  work  of  employment  offices  in 
the  United  States.  (Its  Bulletin, 
no.  109.) 

Systematic  relief  work  for  the 

unemployed  of  Diisseldorf.  (Its 
Bulletin,  no.  93:  616-621.) 

United  States  Department  of  com- 
merce and  labor.  Labor  confer- 
ence. Proceedings  of  the  confer- 
ence with  the  representatives  of 
labor,  held  in  the  office  of  the  sec- 
retary of  commerce  and  labor,  Feb- 
ruary 10  and  n,  1909.  Washington, 
Govt.  print,  off.,  1909.  133  p. 

Varlez,  Louis.  "Unemployment:  an 
international  problem.  (Interna- 
tional, Dec.  1908,  v.  4:  59-65.) 

Le  statistique  de  chomage.    G. 

Von  Mayr  joint  author. 
See   next   title. 


General  Works 


411 


Von  Mayr,  G.  and  Varlez,  Louis.    La 

statistique      du     chomage.       Gand, 
1913.      186  p. 

Report  of  the  special  committees  appointed 
by  the  International  statistical  institute  and 
the  International  association  on  unemploy- 
ment, with  recommendations  for  more  fre- 
quent, general  and  uniform  gathering  of 
statistics. 

Wadlin,  Horace  G.  Unemployment. 
(Massachusetts.  Bureau  of  statis- 
tics of  labor,  twenty-fourth  annual 
report,  1894,  P-  1-268.  Boston, 

1894.) 

Historical  examples  of  public  aid  to  the 
unemployed,  modern  plans,  current  statis-1 
tics,  foreign  data,  recommendations. 

Ward,  F.  W.  Orde.  Unemployment 
a  national  disgrace  and  danger. 
(Westminster  review,  May,  1912,  v. 
177:523-528.) 

Warner,  Amos  G.  Some  experiments 
on  behalf  of  the  unemployed. 
(Quarterly  journal  of  economics, 
1891,  v.  5,  P.  1-23.) 

Washington,  Booker  T.  Man  at  the 
bottom  in  London.  (Outlook,  May 
6,  1911,  v.  98:21-26.) 

Watts,  J.  Hunter.  Agriculture  and  un- 
employment. (International,  Sept. 
1909,  v.  6:  106-113.) 

Wayland,  Francis.  A  paper  on 
tramps;  read  at  the  Saratoga  meet- 
ing of  the  American  social  science 
association  before  the  conference 
of  state  charities.  New  Haven, 
1877. 

Webb,  Sidney.  Seasonal  trades,  by 
various  writers,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  Sidney  Webb.  London, 
Constable,  1912.  410  p. 

The  outcome  of  a  seminar  at  the  London 
school  of  economics  and  political  science 
during  the  session  of  1910.  Contains  chap- 
ters on  seasonal  trades,  by  J.  S.  Poyntz;  the 
tailoring  trade  in  London,  by  Barbara  Drake; 
the  waiter,  by  Barbara  Drake;  the  cycle  in- 
dustry, by  G.  R.  Carter;  the  gas  industry, 
by  Frank  Popplewell;  the  London  millinery 
trade,  by  C.  K.  Saunders;  the  skin  and  fur 
trades,  by  Marguerite  Bourat;  the  boot  and 
shoe  trade,  by  Constance  Calver;  the  building 
trade,  by  A.  D.  Webb. 

The  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment in  the  United  Kingdom;  with 
a  remedy  by  organization  and  train- 
ing. (American  academy  of  politi- 
cal and  social  science.  Annals, 
Mar.,  1909,  v.  33:420-439.) 


Webb,  Sidney,  and  Webb,  Beatrice. 
The  break-up  of  the  Poor  law:  be- 
ing part  one  of  the  Minority  re- 
port of  the  Poor  law  commission. 
London,  Longmans,  Green,  1909. 
601  p. 

Contains  sections  on  the  general  mixed 
workhouse  of  to-day,  outdoor  relief  of  to- 
day, birth  and  infancy,  children  under  rival 
authorities,  curative  treatment  of  the  sick 
by  rival  authorities,  the  mentally  defective, 
the  aged  and  infirm,  charge  and  recovery  by 
local  authorities,  settlement  and  removal, 
grants-in-aid,  supervision  and  control  by  the 
national  government,  scheme  of  reform, 
and  summary  of  conclusions  and  recommen- 
dations. 

The  public  organization  of  the 

labour  market:  being  part  two  of 
the  Minority  report  of  the  Poor 
law  commission.  London,  Long- 
mans, Green,  1909.  345  p. 

Contains:  The  able-bodied  under  the 
poor  law,  the  ablejbodied  and  voluntary 
agencies,  the  able-bodied  under  the  unem- 
ployed workmen  act,  the  distress  from  un- 
employment as  it  exists  to-day,  proposals 
for  reform,  summary  of  conclusions  and 
recommendations. 

The  prevention  of  destitution. 

London,    1911.     348  p. 

The  subject  of  the  book  is  destitution  as 
it  exists  in  the  United  Kingdom  to-day.  It 
treats  of  destitution  as  a  disease  of  society, 
how  to  prevent  the  destitution  that  arises 
from  sickness,  destitution  and  _  eugenics, 
how  to  prevent  the  destitution  arising  from 
child  neglect,  sweating  and  unemployment  as 
causes  of  destitution,  how  to  prevent  un- 
employment and  under-employment,  insur- 
ance, the  enlarged  sphere  of  voluntary 
agencies  in  the  prevention  of  destitution, 
the  need  for  a  common  registrar  of  public 
assistance,  the  "moral  factor."  Each  chap- 
ter is  followed  by  an  appendix  with  notes 
and  references. 

What  I  went  through  in  trying  to  get 
a  position.  (Ladies'  home  journal, 
Mar.  15,  1911,  v.  28: 15-16.) 

Wheeler,  Everett  P.  The  unemplov- 
ed:  education  of  the  worker.  (In 
Peters,  John  P.  Labor  and  capi- 
tal, p.  419  424.  New  York,  1002.) 

Williams,  R.  The  Liverpool  docks 
problem.  Liverpool,  Northern  pub- 
lishing: co.,  1912.  44  p. 

Wyckoff,    Walter    A.      The    workers: 

An  experiment  in  reality;  the  west. 

New  York.  Scribner's,  1899.     3?8  p. 

Experiences   among  the   tmemploved   from 

Chicago  to  the  Pacific  in   1891-1893. 


4I2 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


EMPLOYMENT  EXCHANGES 


Abbott,  Grace.  The  Chicago  employ- 
ment agency  and  the  immigrant 
worker.  (American  journal  of  so- 
ciology, Nov.  1908,  v.  14: 289-305.) 

Adler,  Georg.  Arbeitsnachweis  und 
Arbeitsborsen.  (Handworterbuch 
der  Staatswissenschaft,  3d  ed.,  v.  i: 
1130-1140.  Jena,  1909.) 

Andrews,  John  B.  Report  of  the 
committee  appointed  by  the  trustees 
of  the  City  club  of  New  York  .  .  . 
to  inquire  into  the  need  of  public 
employment  exchanges  in  New 
York.  Morris  L.  Ernst  joint 
author.  New  York,  1914.  35  p. 

Der  Arbeitsmarkt.  Halbmonatsschrift 
der  Centralstelle  fur  arbeitsmarkt- 
berichte.  Zugleich  organ  des  Ver- 
bandes  deutscher  arbeitsnachweise. 
Berlin,  1897 — 

The  leading  source  of  information  on  the 
condition  of  the  German  labor  market  and 
on  the  operations  of  the  German  labor 
exchanges. 

Baab,  August  Zur  frage  der  arbeits- 
losenversicherung,  der  arbeitsver- 
mittelung  und  der  arbeitsbeschaf- 
fung.  Leipzig,  Deichert,  1911.  389 
P. 

Becker,  Otto.  Die  gesetzliche  rege- 
lung  der  arbeitsvermittlung  in  den 
wichtigsten  landern  der  erde.  Ber- 
lin, Heymann,  1913. 

Beveridge,  William  Henry.  Labour 
bureaux.  (Economic  journal,  Sept. 
1906,  v.  16:436-439.) 

Public    labour    exchanges    in 

Germany.     (Economic  journal,  Mar. 
1908,  v.  18:  1-18.) 

Birmingham.  Education  committee. 
Report  on  the  Birmingham  system 
of  care  committees  and  juvenile  em- 
ployment bureaux.  Adopted  by  the 
Education  committee,  i6th  Decem- 
ber 1910,  and  26th  May,  1911.  Bir- 
mingham, 1911.  34  p. 

Bliss,  W.  D.  P.  What  is  done  for 
the  unemployed  in  European  coun- 
tries. (United  States  Bureau  of 
labor.  Bulletin,  May,  1908,  no.  76: 
741-934.) 

Discusses  principally  employment  bureaus. 

Bloomfield,  Meyer.  The  school  and  the 
start  in  life:  A  study  of  the  rela- 
tion between  school  and  employ- 
ment in  England,  Scotland  and  Ger- 
many. (United  States  Bureau  of 
education,  bulletin  1914  no.  4,  whole 


no.   575-)    Washington,   Govt.   print, 
off.,  1914.     146  p. 

Contains  much  information  of  value  in 
regard  to  metkods  of  juvenile  labor  ex- 
changes and  juvenile  placement  work. 

Bogart,  E.  L.  Public  employment  of- 
fices in  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many. (Commons,  John  R.  Trade 
unionism  and  labor  problems,  p. 
603-626.  1905.) 

Bourgin,  Georges.  Contribution  a 
1'histoire  du  placement  et  du  livret 
en  France.  (Revue  politique  et 
parlementaire,  Jan.  10,  1912,  v.  71: 
105-126.) 

Brcssler,  David  M.  The  distribution 
of  Jewish  immigrants  in  industrial 
and  agricultural  pursuits;  agencies 
and  results.  New  York,  1907.  32  p. 

California.  Labor  and  capital  commit- 
tee. Evidence  taken  before  the 
Senate  committee  .  .  .  upon  the 
fraudulent  practices  of  employment 
agencies,  Friday,  February  27,  1891. 
Also,  evidence  taken  before  Assem- 
bly Committee.  Sacramento.  1891. 

A  number  of  cases  of  alleged  abuses  by 
private  agencies. 

California.  Labor  and  employment 
exchange.  Report  of  the  transac- 
tions .  .  .  from  April  27,  1868,  to 
November  30,  1869.  Sacramento, 
1870.  1 6  p. 

Early  experiment  with  a  voluntary, 
jointly-managed  labor  exchange. 

Carpenter,   Edward  W.     The   experi- 
ence   of   the    National    employment 
exchange.     (American  labor  legisla- 
tion review,  Feb.  1912,  v.  2:  101-104.) 
f  Conditions   in   New   York   city. 

Citizens'    association    of    New    York. 

Report  ^upon  the  condition,  etc.  of 
the  institutions  under  the  charge  of 
the  commissioners  of  public  chari- 
ties and  corrections;  with  sugges- 
tions in  relation  to  organizing  a 
bureau  of  labor  statistics  and  em- 
ployment^ and  depots  in  the  west 
for  the  distribution  of  labor.  New 
York,  1868.  27  p. 

City  club  of  New  York.  Committee 
to  inquire  into  the  need  of  public 

.  employment  exchanges  in  New 
York.  Report.  New  York,  1914.  35  p. 

Findings  of  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  trustees  of  the  City  club  of  New  York 
on  December  17,  1913.  Morris  L.  Ernst  and 
John  B.  Andrews.  Description  of  condi- 
tions in  New  York,  public  labor  exchanges 
in  Europe  and  America,  and  recommenda- 
tions. 


Employment  Exchanges 


413 


Commons,  John  Rogers.  Labor  and 
administration.  New  York,  Mac- 
millan,  1913.  431  p.  "School  house 
in  a  state  system  of  employment  of- 
fices", p.  358-362. 

Brief  statement  of  proper  methods  of  con- 
ducting public  employment  exchanges,  show- 
ing opportunity  for  cooperation  by  the 
school  system. 

Conner,  J.  E.  Free  employment  of- 
fices in  the  United  States.  (United 
States  Bureau  of  labor.  Bulletin, 
Jan.  1907,  no.  68: 1-115.) 

Co-operative  employment  bureau  for 
women  and  girls,  Cleveland,  O. 
Annual  report.  Cleveland,  1909— 

Cotton,  F.  W.  Labor  exchange  solu- 
tions. Olathe,  Kan.,  1895.  39  p. 

Dawson,  William  Harbutt.  The  Ger- 
man workman;  a  study  in  national 
efficiency.  (London,  King,  1906. 


3°C4o 


Contains  chapters  on  labor  registries  and 
the  Munich  labor  bureau. 

Deutsche    gesellschaft    von    Chicago. 

Jahresbericht.     Chicago,  1910^- 

Contains  the  reports  of  the  committee  on 
employment  bureau. 

Devine,  Edward  Thomas.  Employ- 
ment bureau  for  the  people  of  New 
York  city.  (American  academy  of 
political  and  social  science.  An- 
nals, Mar.  1909,  v.  33:225-238.) 

Report  on  the  desirability  of 

establishing  an  employment  bureau 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  New 
York,  1909.  3-238  p.  "A  partial 
bibliography":  p.  232-238. 

Gives  data  on  methods  of  finding  employ- 
ment in  New  York  city,  with  recommenda- 
tions for  a  philanthropic  private  bureau. 

Edlmann,  E.  Juvenile  labour  ex- 
changes and  apprenticeship  bureaux 
in  Germany.  (Contemporary  re- 
view, Aug.  1913,  v.  104: 230-239.) 

Ernst,  Morris  L.  Report  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  trustees  of 
the  city  club  of  New  York  ...  to 
inquire  into  the  need  of  public  em- 
ployment exchanges  in  New  York. 
John  B.  Andrews  joint  author. 
New  York,  1914.  35  p. 

France.  Direction  du  travail.  Les 
bureaux  municipaux  de  placement  a 
Paris  en  1009.  Paris,  1910.  30  p. 

Report  to  the  minister  of  labor  and  social 
providence  by  Numa  Raflin,  permanent 
investigator. 

Les    bureaux    muncipaux    de 

placement  en  Allemagne.  Paris, 
1910.  46  p. 


Enquete  sur  le  placement  des 

employes,  ouvriers  et  domestiques  a 
Paris,  depuis  la  promulgation  de  la 
loi  du  14  mars  1904.  Paris,  1909. 
200  p. 

Franck,  Charles.  Les  bourses  du  tra- 
vail et  la  Confederation  generate  du 
travail.  Paris,  1910.  517  p. 

Franklin,  R.  Schoolhouses  as  employ- 
ment agencies.  (Technical  world 
magazine,  Apr.  1913,  v.  19:268-270.) 

Freund,  Richard,  and  Zacher,  G.  Pro- 
jet  de  statistique  Internationale  sur 
les  offices  de  placement.  1912.  8  p. 

Good,  T.  A  labour  view  of  labour 
exchanges.  (World's  work,  Lon- 
don, Jan.  1911,  v.  17:135-139.) 

Gordon,  Maria  Matilda  (Ogilvie).  A 
handbook  of  employments  specially 
prepared  for  the  use  of  boys  and 
girls  on  entering  the  trades,  indus- 
tries, and  professions.  Aberdeen, 
1908.  444  P; 

Juvenile  employment  bur- 
eaux. (Contemporary  review,  June, 
1911,  v.  99:723-732.) 

Great  Britain.  Board  of  trade.  La- 
bour exchanges  act,  1909.  General 
regulations  made  by  the  Board  of 
trade  in  pursuance  of  section  (2)  of 
the  Labour  exchanges  act,  1909. 
London,  1910.  4  p. 

Board  of  trade  labour  ex- 
changes. Statistical  statement  with 
regard  to  the  work  of  the  Board  of 
trade  labour  exchanges.  London, 
1911.  16  p. 

Sixteenth  abstract  of  labour 

statistics  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
London,  1913.  "Board  of  trade  la- 
bour exchanges'*  and  "women's  em- 
ployment bureaux",  p.  22-35. 

Report  of   operations. 

Fourth  abstract  of  foreign 

labour  statistics.  London,  1911. 
462  p.  "Labour  registries",  p. 
401-418. 

Memorandum  with  regard  to 

cooperation  between  labour  ex- 
changes and  local  education  authori- 
ties exercising  their  powers  under 
the  education  (choice  of  employ- 
ment) act,  1910.  London,  1911.  6  p. 

Great  Britain.  Royal  commission  OB 
the  poor  laws  and  relief  of  distress. 
Reports  on  visits  paid  by  the  La- 
bour colonies  committee  to  certain 


414 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


institutions    in    Holland,    Belgium, 

Germany,     and     Switzerland,     1910. 

120  p. 
Great      Britain's      labor      exchanges. 

(Chautauquan,  May,  1911,  v.  62:300- 

301.) 
Greenwood,  Arthur.     Juvenile  labour 

exchanges  and  after-care.     London, 

King,  1911.     112  p. 
Argues   for   comprehensive   cooperation   of 

agencies    for    the    protection    of    adolescent 

workers. 

Heath,  J.  St.  G.  German  labour  ex- 
changes. (Economic  journal,  Sept. 

1910,  v.  20:337-346.) 

Howe,    Frederick    C.      The    German 
system  of  labor  exchanges.    (Ameri- 
can   labor    legislation    review,    May 
1914,  v.  4,  no.  2:300-304.) 
Brief  popular  description. 

Industrial  removal  office,  New  York 
(City).  Annual  reports.  New  York, 
1904 — . 

Reports  of  work  in  distributing  Jewish  im- 
migrants to  sections  of  the  country  wkere 
there  are  industrial  openings. 

Keeling,    Frederic.      The    labour    ex- 
change in  relation  to  boy  and  girl 
labour.     London,  King,  1910.     76  p. 
Proposals   and   experiment  in   juvenile   la- 
bor   exchanges,    with    recommendations. 

The  unemployment  problem 

in  1913.  (Crusade,  Jan.  1913,  v.  3, 
no.  13:  227-242.) 

Kellor,  Frances  Alice.  Out  of  work; 
a  study  of  employment  agencies: 
their  treatment  of  the  unemployed, 
and  their  influence  upon  homes  and 
business.  New  York,  Putnam,  1904. 
292  p. 

Results  of  a  first  kand  investigation  in 
New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia  and 
Boston. 

Kerby,  William  J.  Labor  bureaus  in 
the  United  States.  (Catholic  uni- 
versity bulletin,  July  1899,  v.  5:345- 
356.) 

King,  Fred  A.  Citizens'  free  employ- 
ment bureau.  Milwaukee,  Wis., 

1911.  15  p. 

Knowles,  G.  W.  Junior  labour  ex- 
changes (a  plea  for  closer  coopera- 
tion between  labour  exchanges  and 
education  authorities).  London, 
1910.  32  p. 

Brief  study  of  conditions,  with  recom- 
mendations for  juvenile  exchanges. 

Labor  information  office  for  Italians, 
New  York.  Bollettino  d'informa- 
zioni.  New  York,  1910 — . 

Aids  in  distributing  Italian  immigrants 
and  in  securing  employment  for  them. 


Leiserson,  William  M.  The  theory  of 
public  employment  offices  and  the 
principles  of  their  practical  admin- 
istration. New  York,  Ginn.  1914. 
27-46  p.  (Reprinted  from  Political 
science  quarterly,  March  1914,  v.  29, 
no.  I.) 

Looking  for  a  job.     (Catholic 

world,  Feb.  1911,  v.  92:605-611.) 

Public  employment  offices  in 

theory  and  practice.  (American  la- 
bor legislation  review,  May  1914,  v. 
4,  no.  2:314-331.) 

Comprehensive  review  of  the  subject,  with 
suggestions  for  operation  of  efficient 
exchanges. 

McLaren,  Charles,  and  Cox,  H.  La- 
bour exchanges  and  compulsory  in- 
surance. (Financial  review  of  re- 
views, June  1909,  v.  7:5-21.) 

Massachusetts.  Bureau  of  statistics 
of  labor.  Free  employment  offices. 
(Its  Bulletin,  June  1907,  v.  11:330- 
343-) 

Gives  list  of  employment  offices  in  the 
United  States  up  to  that  time. 

Free    employment    offices    in 

foreign  countries.  (Its  Bulletin, 
July- Aug.  1907,  v.  12:36-40.) 

Contains  data,  for  the  year  of  publication, 
on  Austria,  Belgium,  Denmark,  Finland, 
France,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Luxem- 
burg, Netherlands,  New  South  Wales.  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  Switzerland,  Western 
Australia. 

Massachusetts.  Commission  on  em- 
ployment offices.  Report  of  the 
Commission  to  investigate  employ- 
ment offices.  Boston,  1911.  130  p. 

Matteson,  E.  L.  Shop  of  the  maid  to 
order.  (Woman's  home  companion, 
Mar.  1913,  v.  40:28.) 

Merkle,  Benno.  Arbeitslosigkeit,  ihre 
statistische  Erfassung  und  ihre  Be- 
kampfung  durch  den  Arbeitsnach- 
weis.  Miinchen,  Duncker  &  Hum- 
blot,  1913.  121  p. 

Milwaukee.  Citizens'  committee  on 
unemployment.  Annual  reports  of 
the  Citizens  committee  on  unem- 
ployment and  the  Milwaukee  Free 
employment  office.  Madison,  Wis., 
1913 — .  First  report  in  Wisconsin. 
Industrial  commission  Bulletin,  vol. 
2,  no.  9.  May  20,  1913,  p.  220-232. 

Mischler,  Ernst.  Die  gesetzliche 
Regelung  des  Arbeitsnachweises  in 
Osterreich.  (Annalen  fur  soziale 


Employment  Exchanges 


415 


Politik  und  Gesetzgebung,  1912,  v. 
1:519-532.) 

Moses,  Mabelle.  The  regulation  of 
private  employment  agencies  in  the 
United  States.  (In  Labor  laws  and 
their  enforcement,  New  York,  1911, 
PP-  335-406.) 
Detailed  study  of  existing  legislation. 

National  employment  exchange,  New 
York.  Annual  reports.  New  York, 
1910 — . 

New  Jersey.  Commission  of  immi- 
gration. Report.  Trenton,  1914. 
201  p.  "Private  employment  agen- 
cies", p.  57-66.  "State  free  employ- 
ment agencies",  p.  66-71. 

Brief  description  of  abuses  by  private 
agencies,  and  comparative  statement  of  state 
exchanges  in  the  United  States. 

New  legislation  on  employment  ex- 
changes. (American  labor  legisla- 
tion review,  May  1914,  v.  4,  no.  2: 
389-399.) 

Text  of  ordinance  adopted  in  New  York 
city,  of  law  enacted  in  New  York 
state,  and  of  bill  introduced  in  Congress, 
March-April,  1914. 

New  York  (city)  Commissioner  of 
licenses.  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  licenses.  N.  Y.,  1005 — . 

This  office  licences  and  regulates  private 
employment  bureaus  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

New  York.  Public  charities  and  cor- 
rection commission.  Report  of  the 
free  labor  bureau  and  proposed  im- 
provements for  the  same.  July  30, 

1873- 
New    York.      Statutes.      An    act    to 

authorize  the  formation  and  main- 
tenance of  free  public  employment 
bureaus.  Albany,  18 — ? 

An  act  to  regulate  the  keep- 
ing of  intelligence  offices,  employ- 
ment agencies,  or  other  places  where 
a  fee  is  charged  for  the  procuring 
of  employment  or  situations  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  Approved  May 
26,  1888.  Albany,  1888,  ch.  410,  laws 
of  1888. 

An  act  to  amend  chapter  432 

of  the  laws  of  1004  entitled:  "An 
Act  to  regulate  the  keeping  of  em- 
ployment agencies  in  cities  of  the 
first  and  second  class  where  fees  are 
charged  for  procuring  employment 
or  situations"  generally  and  to  limit 
its  application  to  cities  of  the  first 
class.  Albany,  1906,  n  p. 


New  York  state  charities  aid  associa- 
tion. Agency  for  providing  situa- 
tions in  the  country  for  destitute 
mothers  with  infants.  Annual  re- 
ports, 1894-1907. 

Operation  of  public  employment   ex- 
changes in  the  United  States.    (Am- 
erican labor  legislation  review,  May 
1914,  v.  4,  no.  2:357-371.) 
Tabulation  of  data,  with  descriptive  text. 

Pennsylvania.  Statutes.  The  laws 
relating  to  the  relief  and  employ- 
ment of  the  poor  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  1835. 

Persons,  Charles  E.,  Parton,  Mabel, 
and  Moses,  Mabelle.  Labor  laws 
and  their  enforcement,  with  special 
reference  to  Massachusetts.  New 
York,  Longmans,  Green,  1911.  419 
p.  "The  regulation  of  private  em- 
ployment agencies  in  the  United 
States,  by  Mabelle  Moses",  p.  335- 
406. 
Detailed  study  of  existing  legislation. 

Philadelphia.  Board  of  guardians  for 
the  relief  and  employment  of  the 
poor.  Rules  for  the  government  of 
the  board  of  guardians,  its  officers, 
business  and  affairs,  etc.  Decem- 
ber, 1835.  Philadelphia,  1835. 

Plan  to  check  unemployment.  (Sur- 
vey, Sept.  9,  1911,  v.  26:830-831.) 

Public  labor  exchanges,  United  States. 
Reports. 

Data  on  the  operation  of  public  labor  ex- 
changes in  the  United  State  can  be  secured 
in  the  reports  issued  at  various  intervals  by 
the  bureaus  of  statistics  or  departments  of 
labor  in  the  states  in  which  state  exchanges 
are  maintained,  and  in  the  reports  issued  by 
the  municipal  exchanges.  State  labor  ex- 
changes are  already  provided  for  in  Colo- 
rado, Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kan- 
sas, Kentucky,  Maryland,  Massachusetts, 
Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Nebraska, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Oklahoma,  Rkode  Island, 
South  Dakota,  West  Virginia  and  Wisconsin. 
Municipal  exchanges  are  provided  for  in 
Phoenix,  Ariz.;  Los  Angeles  and  Sacra- 
mento, Calif.;  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Butte, 
Great  Falls  and  Missoula,  Mont.;  Newark, 
N.  J.;  New  York,  N.  Y.;  Cleveland,  O.; 
Portland,  Ore.;  and  Everett,  Seattle,  Spo- 
kane and  Tacoma,  Wash.  The  bureau  of 
statistics  in  Massachusetts  and  the  industrial 
commission  in  Wisconsin  issue  monthly  labor 
market  bulletins. 

Real  co-operative  community  at  a 
country  cross-roads.  (Survey,  May 
24.  1913,  v.  30:282-283.) 

Ritchie,  George  M.  The  labor  ex- 
change. A  plan  to  adjust  the  labor 
problem.  Chicago,  Woman's  tern- 


4i6 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


perance  publishing  association,  1894. 
88  p. 

Roberts,  Elmer.  Labor  exchanges  in 
Germany.  (Scribner's  magazine, 
Jan.  1912,  v.  51:  111-116.) 

Ruiz  Castella,  Jose.  Municipalizacion 
de  las  bolsas  de  trabajo.  Barcelona, 
1912.  23  p. 

Sargent,  Frank  Byron.  Statistics  of 
unemployment  and  the  work  of  em- 
ployment offices.  Washington, 
Govt.  print,  off.,  1913.  147  p.  (Bul- 
letin of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
labor,  whole  no.  109.  Miscellaneous 
series  no.  i.) 

Results  of  a  comprehensive  investigation 
into  unemployment  statistics  and  the  opera- 
tion of  employment  exchanges  in  the  United 
States. 

Schloss,  David  Frederick.  Unem- 
ployed in  foreign  countries.  Re- 
port to  the  Board  of  trade  on  agen- 
cies and  methods  for  dealing  with 
•the  unemployed  in  certain  foreign 
countries.  London,  1904.  236  p. 

The  countries  dealt  with  in  this  report  are 
the  German  empire,  Austria.  Switzerland, 
France,  Belgium,  and  Holland. 

Siegfried,  Jules.  Free  municipal  labor 
bureau  of  Paris.  (Social  service, 
April  1004,  p.  75-76.) 

Stevens,  B.  M.  Vacations  through  an 
employment  bureau.  (Survey,  July 
22,  1911,  v.  26:610-612.) 

Stone,  H.  W.  J.  Labour  exchanges 
in  England.  (Fortnightly  review, 
Oct.  1913,  v.  94:688-698.) 

United  States  Bureau  of  education. 
Juvenile  labor  bureaus  and  voca- 
tional guidance  in  Great  Britain. 
(Its  Bulletin,  192,  no.  482:  13-17.) 

The   school   and   the   start   in 

life:  A  study  of  the  relation  between 
school  and  employment  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Germany.  (Its  Bulle- 
tin 1914  no.  4,  whole  no.  575.) 
Washington,  Govt.  print,  off.,  1914, 
146  p. 

Contains  much  information  of  value  in 
regard  to  methods  of  juvenile  labor  ex- 
changes and  juvenile  placement  work. 

United  States  Bureau  of  labor  statis- 
tics. Free  employment  offices  in  the 
United  States.  (Its  Bulletin,  Jan. 
1007,  no.  68:  1-115.) 

Situation    at   the    time,    text   of   legislation 
then  existing,  and  recommendations. 
What  is  done  for  the  unem- 
ployed in  European  countries.     (Its 
Bulletin,  May,  1908,  no.  76:  741-934.) 
Treats     principally     of     employment     ex- 
changes. 


Statistics     of     unemployment 

and  the  work  of  employment  offices. 
(Its  Bulletin,  Oct.  1913,  no.  109.) 
147  P. 

Comprehensive  study,  including  work  of 
private  and  of  philanthropic  exchanges. 

United  States.  Chief  of  the  division 
of  information.  Annual  reports  to 
the  commissioner  general  of  immi- 
gration. Washington,  Govt.  print, 
off.,  1907 — . 

Give  data  on  the  distribution  of  immi- 
grants through  the  activity  of  the  division. 

United  States  Department  of  agricul- 
ture. Division  of  statistics.  List  of 
free  employment  agencies  for  farm- 
ers. Washington,  Govt.  print,  off., 
ipoo.  42  p. 

United  States  Industrial  commission: 
Final  report.  Washington,  Govt. 
print,  off.,  1902. 

Volume  19  contains  sections  on  unemploy- 
ment, p.  746-757;  employment  agencies  and 
bureaus,  p.  757-763. 

Various  types  of  teachers'  agencies. 
(Elementary  school  teacher,  Jan. 
1913,  v.  13:215-216.) 

Verband  deutscher  Arbeitsnachweise. 
Schriften.  Nos.  1-12.  Berlin,  C. 
Heymann,  1899-1912. 

Contents:  No.  1:  Was  konnen  die  arbeits- 
nachweise dazu  beitragen  der  landwirtschaft 
arbeitskrafte  zu  erhallen  und  zuzufiihren? 
Arbeitsnachweisstatistik.  Empfiehlt  sich  die 
gehiihrenfreiheit  bei  der  arbeitsvermittelung? 
Verhandlungen  der  ersten  verbandsversamm- 
lung  und  arbeitsnachweiskonferenz,  1898, 
Miinchen.  1899.  No.  2:  Geschaftsbericht 
des  verbandes  deutscher  arbeitsnachweises 
fur  die  jahre  1898  und  1899.  1900.  No.  3: 
Zweiter  verbandsversammlung  und  arbeits- 
nachweiskonferenz, Koln.  1901.  No,  4: 
Dritte  verbandsversammlung  und  arbeits- 
nachweiskonferenz, 1902,  Berlin.  1903. 
No.  5:  Vorberichte  fur  die  vierte  verbands- 
versammlung und  arbeitsnachweiskonferenz, 
1905.  Wiesbaden.  1905.  No.  6:  Vierte 
verbandssammlung  und  arbeitsnachweiskon- 
ferenz, 1905,  Wiesbaden.  1906.  No.  7: 
Funfter  deutscher  arbeitsnachweiskongress, 
Leipzig,  1908.  1909.  No.  8:  Sechster  deut- 
scher arbeitsnachweiskongress,  Breslau,  1910. 
1911.  No.  9:  Die  einrichtung  von  pari- 
tatischen  facharbeitsnachweisen  fur  das 
gastwirtsgewerbe  konferenz,  1911,  Berlin. 
1911.  No.  10:  Die  gesetzlicke  regelung  der 
arbeitsvermittlung  in  den  wichtigsten  lan- 
dern  der  erde,  von  O.  Becker  und  E.  Bern- 
hard.  1913.  No.  11:  Siebenter  deutscher 
arbeitsnachweiskongress,  1912,  Hamburg. 
1913.  No.  12:  Die  neuere  entwicklung  der 
facharbeits  nachweise  im  gastwirtsgewerbe. 
Stenographische  niederschrift  der  sitzung 
des  arbeitsausschusses  des  verbandes  deut- 
scher^  arbeitsnachweise.  1912. 

Vocation  bureau  for  educated  women. 

(Survey,   Aug.   31,    1912,   v.   28:681- 

682.) 
Warner,    Brainard    Henry,    Jr.      Die 


Unemployment  Insurance 


417 


Organisation  und  Bedeutung  der 
freicn  pffentlichen  Arbeitnachweis- 
amter  in  den  Vereinigten  Staaten 
von  Nordamerika.  Leipzig,  1903- 

99  P. 
Webb,   Sidney,   and   Webb,    Beatrice. 

The  public  organisation  of  the  la- 
bour market:  being  part  two  of  the 
Minority  report  of  the  Poor  law 
commission.  London,  Longmans, 

Green,  1909. 

Contains:  the  able-bodied  under  the  Poor 
law  the  able-bodied  and  voluntary  agencies, 
the  able-bodied  under  the  Unemployed 
workmen  act,  the  distress  from  unemploy- 
ment as  it  exists  to-day,  proposals  for  reform, 
summary  of  conclusions  and  recommenda- 
tions. 


Willoughby,  William  Franklin.  Em- 
ployment bureaus.  Boston,  1900. 
16  p. 

Wisconsin.  Industrial  commission. 
Wisconsin  free  employment  offices. 
(Its  Bulletin,  May  20,  1913,  v.  2,  no. 
9.)  Madison,  Wis.,  1913.  1.93-23?  p. 

Concise  report  on  the  foundation,  princi- 
ples and  operation  of  the  Wisconsin  system 
of  public  labor  exchanges. 

Zacher,  G.  Projet  de  statistique  Inter- 
nationale sur  les  offices  de  place- 
ment. 1912.  8  p.  Richard  Freund 
joint  author. 

Zentralverein  fur  arbeitsnachweis, 
Berlin.  Geschaftsbericht.  Berlin, 
1901—. 


UNEMPLOYMENT  INSURANCE 


Annan,  W.  The  duties  of  employers 
under  the  national  insurance  act, 
1911.  Edinburgh,  1912.  231  p. 
"Unemployment  insurance",  p.  37- 
218. 

Baab,  A.  Zur  frage  der  Arbeitslosen- 
versicherung,  der  Arbeitsvermittel- 
ung  und  der  Arbeitsbeschaffung. 
Leipzig,  Deichert,  1911.  389  P- 

Beauchamp,  W.  Insurance  against 
unemployment.  (Westminster  re- 
view, Mar.  1911,  v.  175:  257-268.) 

Bellet,  Daniel.  Le  chomage  et  son 
remede.  Paris,  Alcan,  1912.  282  p. 

Bellom,  Maurice.  L'assurance  contre 
le  chomage.  (Revue  d'economie 
politique,  Nov.-Dec.  1908,  Feb.,  Apr. 
1909,  v.  22:  759-771;  v.  23:  118-136; 
260-283.) 

Bliss,  W.  D.  P.  What  is  done  for  the 
unemployed  in  European  countries. 
(United  States  Bureau  of  labor, 
Bulletin,  May,  1908,  No.  76:  741- 

934-) 

Carr,  A.  S.  Comyns,  and  others.  Na- 
tional insurance.  London,  Mac- 
millan,  1912.  587  p. 

A  commentary  upon  the  insurance  act. 
Numerous  citations  of  cases;  interpretation 
and  discussion  of  various  phases  of  the  law. 

Chapman,  Sydney  John  and  Halls- 
worth,  H.  M.  Unemployment;  the 
results  of  an  investigation  made  in 
Lancashire  and  an  examination  of 
the  Report  of  the  Poor  law  com- 
mission. Manchester,  The  Uni- 
versity press,  1909.  164  p. 


Clarke,  Orme.  The  national  insur- 
ance act,  1911.  London,  Butter- 
worth,  1912.  338  p. 

A  treatise  on  the  scheme  of  national  health 
insurance  and  insurance  against  unemploy- 
ment created  by  the  act,  with  the  incor- 
porated enactments,  full  explanatory  notes, 
tables  and  examples. 

Coman,  Katharine.  Insurance  against 
unemployment  in  Norway  and  Den- 
mark. (Survey,  Mar.  14,  1914,  v. 
31 :  742-744.) 

Brief,   popular  discussion. 

Great  Britain's  experiment  in 

compulsory  unemployment  insur- 
ance. (Survey,  Mar.  28,  1914,  v.  31: 
799-802.) 

Brief,  general  discussion  of  the  only  com- 
pulsory national  system  of  unemployment 
insurance. 

Congres  international  des  assurances 
sociales.  Rapports.  Paris,  1889; 
Berne,  1891;  Milan,  1894;  Brussels, 
1897;  Paris,  1900;  Diisseldorf,  1902; 
Vienna,  1905;  Rome,  1908;  The 
Hague,  1910. 

The  name  of  this  confess  has  gone 
through  several  changes.  The  name  given 
is  the  latest.  The  proceedings  contain  val- 
uable articles  by  specialists,  in  English, 
French  and  German. 

Comite   permanent.      Bulletin 

des  assurances  sociales.    Paris,  1889. 

Contains  articles  by  specialists  in  English, 
French  and  German. 

Dawson,  William  Harbutt.  The  Ger- 
man workman;  a  study  in  national 
efficiency.  New  York,  Scribner, 
1906.  304  p.  "Insurance  against 
worklessness",  see  chapter  3. 

Du     Cormier,     Crosson.       Questions 


418 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


ouvrieres.    Lea  caisses  syndicates  de 
chomage  en  France  et  en  Belgique. 

Paris     IQO";       246  O 

a  unemployment    in- 


Dupont,  Paul  L'assurance  centre  le 
chomage.  Paris,  Giard  &  Briere, 
1908.  363  P. 

Fagnot,  F.  Le  chomage.  Paris,  Bel- 
lais,  1905.  2  v. 

Results   of   subsidized   trade   union   unem- 


mite.  Arbetsloshetsforsakringen  i 
utlandet.  Ofversikt  utarbetad  af 
Oskari  Autere.  Helsingfoers, 
TOOO  TTT  n 

SSrt  F.  PThe  British  na- 


und  im  Deutschem  Reich.     Berlin, 
1906.    3  v. 

CONTENTS. — Vol.  i.  Die  versicherung  ge- 
gen  die  folgen  der  arbeitslosigkeit. — Vol.  n. 
Der  stand  aer  gemeinnutzigen  arbeitsvermit- 
tlung  offentlicher  und  privater  verbande  im 
Deutschen  Reich. — Vol.  HI.  Anlagenband  zu 
teil  1:  Statistik,  gesetze,  verordnungen, 
statuten. 

Ghent.      Fonds    de    chomage.      Dea 

moyens  d'etendre  1'action  du  Fonds 
de  chomage.  Systemes  complement- 
aires  pour  les  ouvriers  non  assures 
centre  le  chomage.  Rapport  pre- 
sente  a  la  Commission  mixte  com- 
munale  pour  1'extention  et  1'ameli- 
oration  des  service  du  Fonds  de 
Louis  Varlez,  presi- 
de chomage  et  de  la 
Gand, 


Foley,  Frank  Settle.    The  national  in- 

Stirance   act,    I9H,    as    it   affects    em- 
ployers      and      workmen.        London, 

Sherratt    &    Hughes,    1911.      61    p. 

"As     to    Unemployed     insurance",    p. 


X  study  of  the  rarious  schemes  of  unem- 

ployment    insurance    in    continental    Europe, 
with  the  author's  conclusion  of  the  necessity 


Fr£?d'  »,LcC,,rK^fer    an,d  •  Dawson 
Miles  M.     Workingmen  s  insurance 

in  Europe.  New  York,  Charities 
publication  committee,  1910.  477  p. 
"Insurance  against  unemployment", 
p.  367-377.  Insurance  against  un- 
employment  in  various  countries", 
p.  378-391. 

Results    in    Great    Britain,    Norway,    Swe- 

den,    Denmark,    Holland,    Belgium,    France, 

Switzerland,   Italy,   Germany  and  Austria. 

Oar?^     W^nrv    Wliinr>#>n        A     o-ni^<»    fr» 

?   '  •*?   *^    Wlllppell.      A    guide    to 

the  National  insurance  act,  1911. 
London,  Wilson,  1912.  140  p.  "Un 
employment  insurance",  p.  107-130. 
Germany.  Statistisches  Amt.  Ab- 
teilung  fur  Arbeiter-statistik.  The 
present  status  of  unemployment  in 
surance.  (Special  supplement  to 
Reichs-arbeitsblatt,  no.  12  Decem- 
ber,  1913.  Tr.  by  the  .  .  .  Metro- 
politan  life  insurance  company  for 
American  association  for  labor  leg- 

illation  ">  New  York  ion  I«J  n  • 
isiation.;  i\ew  FK,  1913.  15  p., 

tables. 

Valuable  statement  on  the  basis  of  official 
sources    and    of    reports    prepared    for    the 
first    general    meeting    of    the    International 
association    on    unemployment,    Ghent,    Sep. 
tember  5-6,  1913. 
........  Die   bestehenden    Einrichtun- 

gen  zur  Versicheriing  gegen  die  fol- 
gen  der  Arbeitslosigkeit  im  Ausland 


*}on  of  private  voluntary  insurance  associa- 
tipns,  and  of  labor  exchanges  to  cooperate 
with  the  state  system,  is  discussed. 

Compulsory  insurance  against 
employment.  (Economic  journal, 
june,  I9iO  v  20-  173-181  ) 
Great  Britain  Board  of  Trade.  Unem- 
ployment  insurance.  First  report 
on  the  proceedings  of  the  Board  of 
trade  under  Part  II.  of  the  National 
insurance  act,  1911.  London,  Dar- 

i:»,«.    T«T/»       Q/-.  « 
lin&'   I9I3-     o2  p. 

A  complete  descriptive  and  statistical  state- 
ment  of  the  operation  of  national  unemploy- 
ment  insurance  in  Great  Britain  during  the 

year  ending  July,  1913. 

Sixteenth  abstract  of  labour 
statistics  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
London,  1913.  "Unemployment  in- 
surance",  p.  12-21. 

National  insurance  act,  1911, 
Part  II.  Unemployment  insurance. 
London,  Eyre  and  Spottiswoode, 
1913.  82  p. 

----  ....Unemployed  benefits  of  trade 
unions.    London,  1911.    327  p. 

Gives  unemployed  benefits  of  trade  unions 
and  ?arnings  in  jnsured  trades,  with  tables 
showing  the  rules  and  expenditure  of  trade 
unions  in  respect  of  unemployed  benefits  and 
also  showing  earnings  in  the  insured  trad«. 

TJnprrmlovmpnr    i  n  Q  it  r  a  n  r  » 
"  ',  ----  :  Un     2l   iP\     r  S 

(umpire  regulations).  London,  Eyre 

and  Spottiswoode,  1912.     6  p. 
10£ontai2s  Tfelaton      dad   26th   March 
^fflfili 


Unemployment  Insurance 


419 


Unemployment  insurance. 

Regulations  made  by  the  Board  of 
trade  under  Part  II.  of  the  National 

insurance  act,  1911 London, 

Eyre  and  Spottiswoode,  1912.  27  p. 

Great  Britain.  Treasury.  Insurance 
legislation  in  Germany.  London, 
Eyre  and  Spottiswoode,  1911.  13  p. 

Memorandum  containing  the  opinions  of 
various  authorities  in  Germany. 

Harris,  Henry  John.  Workmen's  in- 
surance in  Germany.  Washington, 
191 1.  (Reprinted  from  twenty- 
fourth  Annual  report  of  United 
States  commissioner  of  labor.)  975- 
J493  P-  "Unemployment  Insur- 
ance", sec.  4. 

Henderson,  Charles  Richmond.  In- 
surance against  unemployment. 
(American  labor  legislation  review, 
June  1913,  v.  3,  no.  2:  172.) 

Necessity  for  and  methods  of  unemploy- 
ment insurance. 

Israels,  B.  L.  Poverty  and  insurance 
for  the  unemployed.  (Charities, 
June  6,  1908,  v.  20:  343-347-) 

Jastrow,  Ignaz.  Kommunale  Arbeits- 
losenversicherung.  Denkschrift  und 
Materialsammlung  vorgelegt  dem 
Magistral  Charlottenburg.  Berlin, 
Reimer,  1910.  228  p. 

Jevons,  H.  Stanley.  Insurance  and 
training  for  the  unemployed.  (Con- 
temporary review,  Apr.  1911,  v.  99: 
415-424.) 

Kennedy,  J.  M.  National  insurance 
and  labour  unrest.  (Fortnightly  re- 
view, Mar.  1913,  v.  99:  465-477.) 

Langsberg,  Otto.  Zur  neuesten  Ent- 
widclung  der  Arbeiterslosenversich- 
erung  im  Deutschen  Reichs.  (An- 
nalen  fur  soziale  Politik  und  Ges- 
etzgebung^  1911,  v.  i:  325-339.) 

Laprade,  William  Thomas.  National 
insurance  in  England.  (South  At- 
lantic quarterly,  July,  1912,  v.  II : 
224-233.) 

Lefort,  Joseph  Jean.  L'assurance 
contre  le  chomage  a  1'etranger  et 
en  France.  Paris,  Fontemoing, 
1913.  2  v. 

Lloyd-George,  David.  The  people's 
insurance.  London,  Hodder  and 
Stoughton,  1912.  303  p.  "Insur- 
ance against  unemployment",  p. 
57-63. 

Contains  the  text  of  the  national  insur- 
ance act,  1911,  and  the  explanations  of  the 
insurance  commissioners. 

McLaren,  Charles  and  Cox,  Harold. 


Labour  exchanges  and  compulsory 
insurance.  (Financial  review  of 
reviews,  June,  1909,  v.  7:  5-21.) 
Money,  Leo  George  Chiozza.  A  na- 
tion insured.  London,  Liberal  pub- 
lication department,  1911.  68  p. 

Explanation  of  the  national  insurance  bill. 

National  insurance  and  la- 
bour unrest.  (Fortnighly  review, 
Oct.  1913,  v.  loo :  763-774.) 

New  York  (State).  Department  of 
labor.  Unemployment  insurance  in 
Denmark.  (Its  Bulletin,  Mar.  1909, 
no.  40:  69-72.) 

Porritt,  Edward.  The  British  na- 
tional insurance  act.  (Political 
science  quarterly,  June,  1912,  v.  27: 
260-280.) 

Roberts,  Elmer.  Experiments  in  Ger- 
many with  unemployment  insur- 
ance. (Scribner's  magazine,  Jan. 
1911,  v.  49:  116-120.) 

Rubinow,  I.  M.  Social  insurance,  with 
special  reference  to  American  con- 
ditions. New  York,  1913.  525  p. 
"Insurance  against  unemployment," 
p.  441-480. 

The  problem,  and  the  beginnings  of  com- 
pulsory   insurance. 

Subsidized  unemployment  in- 
surance. (Journal  of  political  econ- 
omy, May,  1913,  v.  21 :  388-399.) 

Argues   for   compulsory,   subsidized   unem- 
ployment   insurance. 

Studies  in  workmen's  insur- 
ance: Italy,  Russia,  Spain.  (Re- 
printed from  twenty-fourth  Annual 
report  of  the  United  States  commis- 
sioner of  labor.)  1669-2382  p.  "Un- 
employment insurance",  Italy,  p. 
1904-1933. 

Schanz,  Georg.  Arbeitslosenversicher- 
ung.  (Handbuch  der  Politik.  Ber- 
lin, 1912-13.  v.  2:510-516.) 

Arbeitslosigkeitsversicher- 

ung.  (Elster,  Ludwig,  ed.  Wor- 
terbuch  der  Volkswirtschaft.  3d 
ed.  Jena,  1911.  v.  i,  p.  203-211.) 

Schloss,  David  Frederick.  Unem- 
ployed in  foreign  countries.  Report 
to  the  Board  of  trade  on  agencies 
and  methods  for  dealing  with  the 
unemployed  in  certain  foreign  coun- 
tries. London,  1904.  236  p.  See 
index  under  Insurance  against  un- 
employment. 

Insurance  against  unemploy- 
ment. London,  King,  1009.  132  p. 
"Appendix  v.  List  of  principal  pub- 


420 


American  Labor  Legislation  Review 


lications  dealing  with  the  question 
of  insurance  against  unemploy- 
ment", p.  126-129. 

Suggestions  for  organizing  a  national  sys- 
tem of  unemployment  insurance,  by  trades, 
in  cooperation  with  labor  registries. 

Seager,  H.  R.  Social  insurance,  a 
program  of  social  reform.  New 
York,  Macmillan,  1910.  175  p. 
"Unemployment:  causes  and  reme- 
dies", p.  84-114. 

Concise  statement  of  causes,  extent  and 
various  steps  towards  the  solution  of  the 
problem. 

Sellers,  Edith.  An  insurance  against 
unemployment  scheme;  Basle  sys- 
tem. (Nineteenth  century  and  after, 
Feb.  1909,  v.  65:  272-282.) 

Compulsory  insurance  against 

unemployment.  A  Swiss  'scheme. 
(Nineteenth  century  and  after,  May, 
1910,  v.  67:  882-893.) 

Shepard,  Walter  James.  The  British 
national  insurance  act.  (American 
political  science  review,  May,  1912, 
v.  6:  229-234.) 

Smith,  Llewellyn.  Economic  security 
and  unemployment  insurance.  (Eco- 
nomic journal,  Dec.,  1910,  v.  20:  513- 
529.) 

Smith,  Thomas.  Everybody's  guide 
to  the  insurance  act.  London-, 
Knight,  1912.  304  p.  "Unemploy- 
ment insurance",  p.  175-206. 

Thompson,  John  Walter.  State  insur- 
ance against  unemployment.  (In 
Faculty  of  actuaries.  Transactions. 
London,  1911.  Vol.  5,  pt.  viii,  no. 
52,  p.  323-372.) 

United  States  Bureau  of  labor  statis- 
tics. ,  Workmen's  insurance  and 
compensation  systems  in  Europe. 
Washington,  Govt.  print,  off.,  1911. 
2  v.  ^  (Annual  repart  of  the  com- 
missioner of  labor,  24th,  1909.)  See 
index  vol.  2  under  Unemployment 
insurance. 

Belgium,      Denmark,      France,      Germany, 
Great  Britain,   Italy,   Norway  and   Sweden. 


British  national  insurance  act, 

1911.  (Bulletin  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  labor,  whole  no.  102. 
Workmen's  insurance  and  compen- 
sation series,  no.  2.)  Washington, 
Govt.  print,  off.,  1912.  87  p.  "Un- 
employment insurance",  p.  66-87. 

United  States  Legation.  Copenhagen. 
Report  on  the  recognized  unemploy- 
ment associations  of  Denmark,  1910. 
14  p. 

Varlez,  Louis.  Die  bekampfung  der 
unfreiwilligen  arbeitslosigkeit.  Glad- 
bach,  [Prussia]  Soziale  kultur, 
[1908-1909]  [2  v.] 

Select  bibliographies  grouped  by  language 
interspersed. 

Webb,  Sidney.  The  national  insur- 
ance act  at  work:  what  it  is  effecting 
and  where  it  needs  amending. 
(Crusade,  Feb.  1913,  v.  3,  no.  14: 
271-278.) 

Webb,  Sidney  and  Webb,  Beatrice. 
Industrial  democracy.  London, 
Longmans,  Green,  1897.  2  v.  "The 
me  hod  of  mutual  insurance",  v.  I,  p. 
152-172. 

Brief    analysis    of    advantages    and    disad- 
vantages   of   trade   union   insurance. 

Willoughby,  W.  F.  Insurance  against 
unemployment.  (Commons,  John 
R.,  ed.  Trade  unionism  and  labor 
problems.  Boston,  1905.  p.  589- 
602.) 

Workingmen's  insurance.  New 

York,  T.  Y.  Crowell,  1898.  386  p. 
"Insurance  against  unemployment", 
p.  361-378. 

Wolff,  Hellmuth.  Arbeitslosenver- 
sicherung.  (Kommunales  Jahrbuch, 
1911-12.  Jena,  1912.  p.  414-424.) 

Die  frage  der  Arbeitslosen- 

versicherungin  den  deutschen  Stadt- 
en.  (Jahrbiicher  fiir  Nationaloko- 
nomie  und  Statistik,  Mar.,  1910,  3d 
ser.,  v.  39:368-371.) 

Zacher,  Georg.  Die  Arbeiter-versiche- 
rung  im  Auslande.  Berlin,  Verlag 
der  Arbeiter-versorgung,  1900-1907. 


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N.  Y.;  CHARLES  R.  HENDERSON, 
Chicago;  and  the  President. 

Secretary:  JOHN  B.  ANDREWS,  131 
East  23rd  St.,  New  York  City. 


[Individual  membership,  including  International   Bulletin   on   Unemploy- 
ment    (Quarterly)    $2*] 

'"Address  the  Secretary. 


THE 

AMERICAN  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

REVIEW 

The  only  Scientific  Labor  Magazine  in  America 


Four  numbers  yearly,  devoted  to : 

Reports  of  National  Conferences  —  Industrial 
Hygiene,  Social  Insurance,  Unemployment, 
and  kindred  topics  of  immediate  importance. 

Proceedings  of  Annual  Meetings — expert  opin- 
ions of  leaders  in  industrial  thought. 

Annual  Summary  of  New  Labor  Laws  —  im- 
mediately after  adjournment  of  legislative 
sessions. 

Proposed  Legislation — economic  facts  for  legis- 
lative action. 

Illustrated  with  maps,  charts,  tables  and  photo- 
graphs. Special  bibliographies. 

Characterized  by : 

Expert,  unbiased  opinion. 
Progressive,  scientific  spirit. 

Indispensable  to  writers,  lecturers,  progressive  em- 
ployers, students  of  the  Labor  Problem,  and  to 
all  who  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  improving 
the  conditions  of  labor. 


Published  Quarterly 

$1  per  copy  $3  per  year 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  FOR  LABOR  LEGISLATION 

131  East  23d  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Annual  subscription  includes  individual  membership  In  the  Association, 
special  Legislative  Reports,  free  use  of  Information  Bureau,  etc. 


PUBLICATIONS 

American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 


No.  i :  Proceedings  of  the  First  Annual  Meeting,  1907. 

No.  2:  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual  Meeting,  1908.* 

No.  3:  Report  of  the  General  Administrative  Council,  1909.* 

No.  4:  (Legislative  Review  No.  i)  Review  of  Labor  Legislation  of  1909. 

No.  5:  (Legislative  Review  No.  2)  Industrial    Education,    1909. 

No.  6:  (Legislative  Review  No.  3)  Administration  of  Labor  Laws,  1909.* 

No.  7 :  (Legislative  Review  No.  4)  Woman's  Work,  1909.* 

No.  8:  (Legislative  Review  No.  5)  Child  Labor,  1910. 

No.  9:  Proceedings  of  the  Third  Annual  Meeting,  1909.* 

No.  10:  Proceedings  of  the  First  National  Conference  on   Industrial  Dis- 
eases, 1910.* 

No.  ii :  (Legislative  Review  No.  6)  Review  of  Labor  Legislation  of  1910. 

No.  12:  (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  I,  No.  i.)     Proceedings 
of  the  Fourth  Annual  Meeting,  1910. 

No.  13:  (American   Labor    Legislation   Review,   Vol.   I,    No.   2.)    Comfort, 
Health  and   Safety  in  Factories. 

No.  14:  (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  I,  No.  3.)     Review  of 
Labor  Legislation  of.  1911. 

No.  15:  (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  I,  No.  4.)     Prevention 
and  Reporting  of  Industrial  Injuries. 

Scientific  Accident  Prevention,  John  Calder. 

Practical  Safety  Devices,  Robert  J.  Young. 

The    Wisconsin    Industrial    Commission,    John    R.    Commons. 

Safety  Inspection  in  Illinois,   Edgar   T.    Davies. 

The  Massackusetts  Board  of  Boiler  Rules,  Joseph  H.  McNeill. 

The   Beginning  of   Occupational   Disease   Reports,   John   B.   Andrews. 

Accident  Reports  in  Minnesota,  Don  D.  Lescohier. 

Advantages  of  Standard  Accident  Schedules,  Edson  S.   Lott. 

A  Plan  for  Uniform  Accident  Reports,  Leonard  W.  Hatch. 

No.  16:  (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  II,  No.  i.)     Proceedings 

of  the  Fifth  Annual  Meeting,  1911.* 

Relation  of  State  to  Federal  Workmen's  Compensation  and  Insurance  Legislation: 
Introductory  Address,   Henry  R.   Seager. 

Compulsory  State  Insurance  from  the  Workman's  Viewpoint,  John  H.  Wallace. 
Accident  Compensation  for  Federal  Employees,  I.  M.   Rubinow. 
Constitutional  Status  of  Workmen's  Compensation,  Ernst  Freund. 
Uniform  Reporting  of  Industrial  Injuries: 

Report  of  Special  Committee  on  Standard  Schedules,  Leonard  W.  Hatch. 

*  Publication  out  of  print. 


Unemployment  Problem  in  America: 

Introductory  Address,  Charles  Nagel. 

Unemployment  as  a  Coming  Issue,  William  Hard. 

Experience  of  the  National  Employment  Exchange,  E.  W.  Carpenter. 

Recent  Advances  in  the   Struggle  against  Unemployment,   C.   R.   Henderson. 
Safety  and  Health  in  the  Mining  Industry: 

Introductory  Address,   Walter   Fisher. 

Work  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  J.  A.   Holmes. 

Occupational  Diseases  in  the  Mining  Industry,   S.  C.  Hotckkiss. 

A  Federal  Mining  Commission,  John  R.  Haynes. 

No.  17:     (American  Labor  Legislation  Review  Vol.  II,  No.  2.)   Proceedings 
of  the  Second  National  Conference  on  Industrial  Diseases,  1912 

Symposium   on   Industrial   Diseases: 

Classification  of  Occupational  Diseases,  W.  Gilman  Thompson. 

Compressed-Air  Illness,  Frederick  L.  Keays. 

Occupational   Skin  Diseases,  John  A.   Fordyce. 

Occupational  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases,  Charles  L.  Dana. 

Occupational  Eye  Diseases,  Ellice  Alger. 

Industrial  Poisoning,  David  L.  Edsall. 

The  Need  of  Cooperation  in  Promoting  Industrial  Hygiene,  Henry  R.  Seager. 
Investigation  of  Industrial  Diseases: 

Intensive  Investigations  in  Industrial  Hygiene,  Frederick  L.  Hoffman. 

Compulsory  Reporting  by  Physicians,  Leonard  W.  Hatch. 

Lead  Poisoning  in  New  York  City,  Edward  E.  Pratt. 
Health  Problems  in  Modern  Industry: 

The  Function  of  Hospitals  and  Clinics  in  the  Prevention  of  Industrial  Disease, 
Richard  Cabot. 

Temperature  and  Humidity  in  Factories,  C*-E.  A.  Winslow. 

Air  Impurities — Dusts,   Fumes,  and   Gases,   Charles   Baskerville. 

Effects  of  Confined  Air  upon  the  Health  of  Workers,  George  M.  Price. 
State    Promotion    of    Industrial    Hygiene: 

Education  for  the  Prevention   of  Industrial  Diseases,   M.   G.   Overlock. 

Notification   of   Occupational    Diseases,    Cressy   L.    Wilbur. 

Medical    Inspection    of    Factories    in    Illinois,    Harold    K.    Gibson. 

Compressed-Air  Illness  in  Caisson  Work,  L.   M.   Ryan. 

Legal  Protection  for  Workers  in  Unhealthful  Trades,  John  B.  Andrews. 
Bibliography   on   Industrial   Hygiene: 

American  Titles. 

Titles  Other  Than  American. 

No.  18:     (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  II,  No.  3.)     Review  of 
Labor  Legislation  of  1912. 

No.  19:     (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  II,  No.  4.)     Immediate 

Legislative  Program. 

One  Day  of  Rest  in  Seven,  Prevention  of  Lead  Poisoning,  Reporting  of  Accidents 
and  Diseases,  Workmen's  Compensation,  Investigation  of  Industrial  Hygiene, 
Protection  for  Working  Women,  Enforcement  of  Labor  Laws. 

No.  20:     (American  Labor  Legislation  Review,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  I.)     Proceed- 
ings of  the  Sixth  Annual  Meeting,  1912. 
The  Minimum  Wage: 

The  Theory  of  the  Minimum  Wage,  Henry  R.  Seager. 
Factory   Inspection   and   Labor   Law   Enforcement: 

How  the,  Wisconsin  Industrial  Commission  Works,  John   R.   Commons. 
A  Laborer's  View  of  Factory  Inspection,  Henry  Sterling. 
An  Employer's  View  of  Factory  Inspection,  Charles  Sumner  Bird. 
The   Efficiency  of  Present  Factory   Inspection   Machinery   in   the   United   States, 
Edward  F.  Brown. 


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In  the  present  day  it  is  not  so  much 
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that  is  the  obstacle  to  reform.     The 
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